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NCAA Selection Show – Monday, Feb. 27, 12 p.m. (EST)
COLUMBUS – The Capital University men's basketball team took home its second championship in a one-week span Saturday, winning the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 70-60 victory over Wilmington at the Capital Center.
By virtue of their victory, the second-seeded Crusaders (18-9), who shared the OAC regular season title with John Carroll, receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
"We were 5-6 on Jan. 2," Capital coach Damon Goodwin said. "Our guys believed, we bought into what we were doing and we played great as a team. They have tremendous chemistry, which is a tribute to Kelly Winter and Tyler Munro, our two seniors."
Wilmington, the tournament's No. 5 seed, completes its season with a 15-13 record.
The Crusaders, who will be making their 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history, will find out their destination and first-round opponent Monday during the Selection Show at 12 p.m. (EST) onNCAA.com.
Following the contest, senior Kelly Winter (Dublin, Ohio) was named the OAC Tournament's most valuable player. He finished with a team-high 19 points and made 10-of-15 from the free throw line, including several down the stretch to help Capital secure the win.
Junior Spencer Niekamp (St. Henry, Ohio) was selected to the All-Touranment team after finishing the title game with 10 points. Junior Ben Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) pitched in with eight points, all in the first half, and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.
In a physical, grind-it-out style contest, the two teams combined for 50 fouls. The Crusaders shot just 38.6 percent from the field but knocked down 33-of-39 from the free throw line. The Quakers shot 32.1 percent and made 21-of-25 from the line.
"I thought we did an excellent job defensively in making them do some things they don't usually do," Goodwin said. "Any time you hold a team to 60 points, you give yourself a chance to win, and we did that tonight."
Capital got several key contributions from its core of reserves, outscoring the Wilmington bench 25-7.
The Crusaders jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first six minutes of the contest and didn't look back, en route to a 36-21 halftime advantage. Capital shot 45.8 percent in the period and held the Quakers to just five made field goals.
The Crusaders extended their lead to 17 with 17:07 to play following a Niekamp jumper, but Wilmington continued to claw away, narrowing its deficit to nine with 7:37 on the clock.
From there, Capital knocked down 16 free throws and made just one field goal, a 3-pointer by senior Tyler Munro (Lexington, Ohio) with 4:26 left.
"We had a great first half, but in the second they really started to be more aggressive," Goodwin said. "We knew we had some runs in us, and we came back and ran at them.
"A 10-point win in a championship game … we'll take it any day."
Capital advanced to the Sweet 16 in its last appearance in the tournament in 2009, defeating Thomas More and Wooster at home before falling to Texas-Dallas in the regional semifinal. It was the Crusaders' third straight bid to the tournament in a season where the team set a program record with 26 wins.
The OAC Tournament championship is the fourth in program history.
See below for the complete All-OAC Tournament team
Kelly Winter, Capital (Most Valuable Player)
Spencer Niekamp, Capital
Antonio Bowman, Wilmington
Malcolm Heard II, Wilmington
Dominique Royal, Ohio Northern
Corey Shontz, John Carroll
