Capital Wins Defensive Battle at Wooster 62-55

Rodney Mitchell

WOOSTER, Ohio - In a battle of NCAA Division III schools, which have both received early season national recognition, Capital University remained undefeated by upending The College of Wooster, which was ranked 14th in this week's d3hoops.com poll, by a score of 62-55 on Wednesday night.

Capital improves to 5-0 and figures to land in next week's Top-25, while Wooster slips to 2-2 for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

It was a defensive battle from start to finish. In fact, it marked the lowest combined point total in a men's game at Timken Gymnasium since the Scots edged arch-rival Wittenberg University 56-55 back on Jan. 30, 1999 - a span of 40 games.

The opening half featured nine ties and five lead changes before the Crusaders ended with what turned out to be a crucial 5-0 run over the final 2:10 and took a lead (29-24) that it would never relinquish.

Capital carried the momentum into the second half, outscoring Wooster 9-4 the first 2:16 to go ahead 38-28. The Scots scored the next six to get back in it, but the Crusaders answered with seven-straight.

A few sequences later, Wooster put together a 9-2 rally to pull within three at 48-45 with 5:59 left, but that was as close as it would get.

Junior Geron Tate, Capital's leading scorer coming into the game, poured in a game-high 21 points from his guard position. Chuck Bihn, a sophomore, was big in the paint, scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 13 boards, while junior wing Tony Ruberg tossed in all 11 of his points in the first half.

Only two players reached double figures in the scoring column for the Scots - junior Bryan Nelson (Kettering, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont) and senior Antwyan Reynolds (Mansfield, Ohio / Mansfield Senior). In just 23 minutes of action due to foul trouble, Nelson put up a dozen points, while Reynolds contributed 11 points to go along with his team-high five rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Statistically, free throw shooting was the difference as Wooster was only able to can 9-of-17 (.529) against the Crusaders' 20-of-25 (.800). Also rebounding was a problem for the Scots, as they were outboarded 34-25.

Despite only scoring 55 points - its lowest since an NCAA Tournament game against Calvin College two years ago - Wooster shot 51.2 percent (22-of-43) from the field. Additionally, the Scots held Capital to just 40.4 percent (19-of-47) from the floor, but they could not overcome 18 turnovers.

Wooster will look to avoid its first 2-3 start since 1992-93, when it opens North Coast Athletic Conference action at Earlham College (1-3) on Saturday at 3 p.m.