Capital, the tournament’s top-seed and regular season co-champion, will play second seeded and fellow co-champ John Carroll University in the finals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in The Capital Center. The Blue Streaks defeated third seed Baldwin-Wallace College 76-69 in the other semifinal game.
The Crusaders held a 31-22 halftime lead, but the Cardinals used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to take a 44-43 lead. Sophomore guard Nate Stahl hit a three-pointer on the next possession, and the Crusaders would score 10 unanswered, capped off by a jumper from fellow sophomore guard Ryan Wood.
Cory Ratai made a layup to cut Capital’s lead to 56-47 with 6:13 left, and the Crusaders responded with nine straight points over the next three and a half minutes to take an 18-point lead and close out the game. Otterbein scored just five points in the final 9:03 of the contest.
Four Crusaders scored in double figures, led by Stahl’s 18 points, 13 from sophomore forward Ross Niekamp off the bench, 11 from senior guard Brian Alge off the bench, and 10 from Wood. Sophomore forward Casey Brown also came off the bench to score eight points and grab five rebounds. Capital shot 15-of-25 (60 percent) in the second half and made five-of-eight three-pointers.
Ross Banaszak scored 18 for the Cardinals, Ryan Kennedy added 12, and Tyler Ousley scored eight points and added nine rebounds. Otterbein finished just 2-of-19 (10.5 percent) from three-point range and shot 35.6 percent from the floor.
John Carroll won the first meeting between these teams, 80-72, back in December. Capital won the second game, 89-82, in January.
Newspaper Box Score Otterbein vs Capital 02/23/07 8 p.m. at Columbus, Ohio - The Capital Center CAPITAL 69, OTTERBEIN 49 OTTERBEIN (16-11) Ross Banaszak 5-13 7-7 18; Ryan Kennedy 5-9 2-3 12; Tyler Ousley 3-7 2-3 8; Brian Pollock 0-4 4-4 4; Cory Ratai 2-4 0-1 4; Adam Wells 1-6 0-0 3; Greg Cooper 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Scheaf 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Wells 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-45 15-18 49. CAPITAL (18-8) Nate Stahl 8-15 0-1 18; Ross Niekamp 4-5 2-2 13; Brian Alge 4-6 2-2 11; Ryan Wood 3-7 4-5 10; Casey Brown 2-6 4-8 8; Steve Kyser 1-3 0-0 3; Pat Stolly 0-0 2-4 2; Ben Gunn 1-2 0-0 2; Jake Fanning 1-2 0-1 2; Quintin Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0; Chris Overbee 0-0 0-0 0; Zach Hollingsworth 0-0 0-0 0; Marlon Pratt 0-0 0-0 0; Ben McGrath 0-0 0-0 0; Michael Howell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 14-23 69. Otterbein..................... 22 27 - 49 Capital....................... 31 38 - 69 3-point goals--Otterbein 2-19 (Ross Banaszak 1-6; Adam Wells 1-5; Tyler Ousley 0-1; Brian Pollock 0-3; Kyle Wells 0-2; Ryan Kennedy 0-2), Capital 7-12 (Ross Niekamp 3-4; Nate Stahl 2-5; Steve Kyser 1-1; Brian Alge 1-1; Ryan Wood 0-1). Fouled out--Otterbein-None, Capital-Ben Gunn. Rebounds--Otterbein 28 (Tyler Ousley 9), Capital 32 (Nate Stahl 5; Casey Brown 5; Steve Kyser 5). Assists--Otterbein 1 (Adam Wells 1), Capital 13 (Quintin Mitchell 4). Total fouls--Otterbein 19, Capital 20. Technical fouls--Otterbein-None, Capital-None. A-2012 OAC Tournament Semifinal - (1) Capital vs. (5) Otterbein Capital advances to championship game against (2) John Carroll at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at The Capital Center