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Capital 77, Ohio Wesleyan 68 (12/22/2001)

Sophomore center Travis Schwab (Medina) converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 65-65 with 4:24 to play, but Capital scored the next 8 points and went on to top Ohio Wesleyan in non-conference action on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

Ohio Wesleyan started the game hot, hitting 5 of its first 7 shots from 3-point range on the way to a 17-10 lead less than 5 minutes into the contest. Junior guard Jason Dopoulos (Strongsville) and freshman forward Seth Rhea (Delaware/Hayes) each sank a pair of 3-pointers during that stretch.

The Bishops led by as many as 10 points on 2 occasions during the half, the first at 27-17 on a Dopoulos basket with 8:08 left and the second on Dopoulos' 4-point play with 6:42 remaining.

Capital came back with a balanced offense, getting 5 points from Geron Tate and 4 from Tyler Scheich. The Crusaders closed to within 4 points on a pair of free throws by Schleich that made the score 36-32 with 2:28 left.

Ohio Wesleyan threatened to break the game open early in the second half on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Shawn Kindred (Delaware/Hayes) that hiked the Bishop lead to 50-41 with 16:43 left, but Capital responded with a 14-4 burst, capped by Tony Ruberg's jumper with 11:26 remaining that gave the Crusaders a 55-54 lead -- their first lead since the opening 2 minutes of the game.

The Bishops bounced back, scoring the next 8 points to take a 62-55 edge with 8:17 left, but Ruberg scored the next 10 points of the game. Ruberg's 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Capital a 65-62 lead, setting up Schwab's game-tying 3-point play.

Ruberg broke the tie with a lay-in with 3:49 left, and Tate and Schleich followed with lay-ins as Capital padded the lead to 71-65 with 1:13 remaining. Ohio Wesleyan's only basket in the final 4 minutes was a 3-pointer from Schwab with :38 to play that cut the deficit to 73-68.

Schwab led the Bishops with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Dopoulos and Rhea finished with 14 points apiece, and Kindred finished with 11 points and shared the team lead with 3 assists. Sophomore center Charlie Smith (Centerburg) scored 10 points.

Ruberg led Capital with 23 points, while Tate had 19 points and Schleich contributed 13 points and a team-high 8 boards.