No. 13 Capital edges Ohio Northern 81-76 in overtime thriller in OAC Semifinals

Feb. 29, 2008

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's basketball team saw its 2007-08 season come to an end in a thrilling 81-76 loss at No. 13 Capital in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at the Capital Center Friday night.

The fourth-seeded Polar Bears end their season with a 15-12 record, while top-seeded Capital improves to 23-4.

Capital advances to the OAC Tournament finals on Saturday night at the Cap Center to face second-seeded Heidelberg, who topped sixth-seeded Baldwin-Wallace 99-80 in the first semifinal game.

Kyle Gehle led five Polar Bears in double figures with 18 points. Kyle Meyer scored 13 points, Jake Cannan scored 12 points, Sam Bastian had 11 points and Kurtis Brown added 10 points for ONU.

Ryan Wood scored a game-high 24 points points and Nate Stahl added 16 for the Crusaders.

Ohio Northern got off to a quick start, as Gehle scored 11 of the team's first 18 points as the Polar Bears built an 18-12 lead 8:45 into the game.

A 6-0 run gave ONU a 32-22 advantage with 5:08 to play in the first half.

Capital answered with a 13-2 run to go up 35-34, but Northern led at the break 38-35.

After the Polar Bears scored the first basket of the second half to go up 40-35, Capital went on an 18-6 run to go up 53-46 with 13:55 left in the game.

A Sam Bastian dunk at the 6:02 mark sparked a 12-2 run that gave ONU a 69-63 lead with 2:43 left.

A Cannan basket at the 5:02 mark tied the game at 61-61, setting up the exciting finish.

Hammersmith knocked down a pair of free throws with 4:23 left in the game to put Northern up 63-61.

Gehle then drilled a long jumper and it was 65-62 ONU with 4:00 to go.

A Kyle Meyer putback with 2:43 left put the Polar Bears up 67-62 and a Cannan tip-in made it 69-63 with 2:15 to play.

Ryan Wood drilled a 3-pointer to pull the Crusaders within 69-66 with 1:37 left. Nate Stahl then hit a 3 to tie the game at 69-69 with 1:22 to play.

"This is a tough loss," ONU head coach Jeff Coleman said. "We had several opportunities to win it. Wood's 3-pointer was huge. If that one doesn't go, we've got the ball up six with a minute and a half to go. We got a good look to win it and had our chances in overtime. I'm proud of our effort - our guys played theur guts out. This was a tough one."

Each team missed a 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime period, two Wood free throws with 14.2 seconds left gave CU a 79-76 lead. As ONU looked for a game-tying 3-pointer, Stahl intercepted an errant pass and his two free throws at the 1.7 second mark iced the game.