Late Run Lifts Capital Over Heidelberg 65-63

Junior center Brian Schmidt (Hinckley, Ohio / Brunswick) of the Heidelberg College men’s basketball team tallied his fourth career double-double, but it was not enough as the Crusaders defeated the Student Princes 65-63. Capital improves to 7-4 overall and 4-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play while Heidelberg falls to 7-5 overall and 3-2 in the OAC.

Schmidt led Heidelberg in scoring and rebounding with 13 points and 11 boards. Sophomore Chad Szalay (Lorain, Ohio / Clearview) came off the bench for 11 points while junior Greg Tyson, Jr. (Lima, Ohio / Senior) added 10 points.

Steve Kyser led Capital with 16 points, including 12 in the second half. Ben Gunn contributed 10 points and six blocks.

The Student Princes led 59-50 with seven minutes remaining in the game when Capital went on a 9-0 run capped by a Nate Stahl shot from behind the arc with four minutes remaining. Szalay gave the Berg a two-point lead with a pair from the charity stripe, but a lay-up by the Crusaders Kyser and Gunn gave Capital their first lead since the contest’s opening minutes.

A lay-up by Heidelberg’s Schmidt tied the game at 63-63 with two minutes remaining, but a lay-up by Kyser with 1:53 gave Capital the winning score.

The Student Princes had a chance to tie with 8.8 seconds left after junior Shawn Shriver (Bellevue, Ohio / Western Reserve) stole the ball at mid-court, but a steal by Capital’s Pat Stolly sealed the win for the Crusaders.

In the game’s opening half, Heidelberg led 25-17 with seven minutes remaining when Capital went on an 8-0 run to tie the game. After a Tyson lay-up, Heidelberg’s Shriver and Szalay nailed three-pointers to give Heidelberg a 33-29 lead with 41 seconds remaining.

Capital worked the clock and Quintin Mitchell hit a lay-up with six seconds remaining. Heidelberg freshman Josh Calver (Shelby, Ohio / Shelby) took the inbounds pass the length of the court and made a desperation trey at the top of the arc to give the Student Princes a halftime advantage of five points.

For the game, Heidelberg shot 26-59 (44.1 percent) from the floor compared to 29-65 (44.6 percent) for Capital. Both teams grabbed 38 boards in the contest.

Heidelberg returns to action Saturday when they travel to Otterbein. Tip-off with the Cardinals is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.