Royal leads Men's Basketball past Capital 72-71

Royal leads Men's Basketball past Capital 72-71
Box Score

Team Stats

January 18, 2014

By: Andrew Korba

BEXLEY -- Senior Dominique Royal scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Ohio Northern men's basketball team to a 72-71 victory at Capital on Saturday afternoon at the Capital Center.

The Polar Bears move to 8-7 on the season and 4-4 in OAC play, while the Crusaders fall to 6-8,3-4.

Royal also tied his season-high with four assists and pulled down three rebounds.

Junior Lucas Pennington added 14 points and five rebounds for ONU.

Andrew Bolka and Michael Green each had 13 points for Capital.

A three pointer by Green tied the game up at 50-50 with 12:29 remaining in the game.

Northern responded with a 12-2 to open up a 62-52 lead with 3:28 left to play.

The Crusaders would chip away at the lead and two free throws from A.J. Dixon with 20 seconds left in the game cut the Polar Bears lead to 68-67.

Pennington was fouled on ONU's next possession and drained both free throws, pushing the lead back to 70-67, with 18 seconds remaining.

After a basket by Capital, junior Isaiah Roux knocked down two free throws to extend the ONU lead to 72-69.

Capital would score another basket to make it 72-71 in favor of the Polar Bears with four seconds left to play.

Royal would be fouled and miss both free throws, but the Crusaders desperation three pointer was no good.

Northern jumped out to an early 13-8 lead, on a jumper from freshman Alex Radkiewicz, with 12:39 left in the first half.

The Crusaders would respond and score the next nine points to jump back in front 17-13 with 9:42 remaining in the first half.

Northern used a 5-0 spurt to take the lead back at 28-26 late in the first half, but Capital scored the final four points to take a 30-28 advantage into the half.

The Polar Bears finished 22-of-45 (48.9 percent) from the field and 9-of-20 (45 percent) in three pointers, while Capital was 21-of-53 (39.6 percent) shooting and 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Crusaders held a 35-24 advantage in rebounding.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Wednesday, when it welcomes Wilmington to the ONU Sports Center at 7:30 pm.