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Box Score

COLUMBUS – The Capital men's basketball team (11-5, 8-1 OAC) fell at home Wednesday night to Marietta (12-4, 8-1 OAC) by a final score of 69-68 as it suffered its first Ohio Athletic Conference loss of the season at the Capital Center.

Sophomore center Andrew Bolka (Xenia, Ohio; above) led the Crusaders offensively as he had a career-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Michael Sommer (11 points, five rebounds) and freshman guard A.J. Dixon (10 points, three rebounds) also contributed for Capital.

In what was a close game throughout, the Crusaders were in control for most of the second half and led by as many as 10 points before Marietta's Jacob Owens rescued the Pioneers with a contested 3-pointer banked in off the glass as time expired.

As was the case for most of the game, the Crusaders leaned heavily on Bolka as he scored the team's first six points as the Crusaders and Pioneers went back and forth early on.

At the midway point of the first half, Capital began to open things up a bit following back-to-back 3-pointers by Sommer (Celina, Ohio) and fellow senior Damon Dillard (Columbus, Ohio) to take the lead 22-18.

Both teams came out firing on all cylinders through the first period of action putting on an offensive showcase as Capital (64 percent shooting) went into intermission with a 41-38 edge over Marietta (60 percent).

Coming out of the second half, Marietta converted an old-fashioned three-point play to knot things up at 41 with 19:05 left in the game.

From there Capital, behind a Dixon lay-up, retook the lead – which they would hold until the game's final possession.

As the Pioneers battled their way back into it, Bolka proved to be key down the stretch scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds (two offensive) in the final ten minutes of the game.

Dixon (Hilliard, Ohio) also was instrumental for the Crusaders down the stretch as he came up with timely steals and tough buckets in the lane en route to his 10 points.

With 10 seconds remaining following a timeout and a Crusader turnover, Marietta worked the ball up the right wing and connected on the game's final bucket over a slew of Capital defenders for the win.

Capital finished the game offensively shooting 55.3 percent from the field (26-of-47 field goals), while surrendering 57.8 percent shooting to the Pioneers, led by their bench who outscored the Crusaders' second unit 32-20.

With the loss the Crusaders fall into a tie for first place in the OAC standings. Marietta holds the advantage by virtue of the head-to-head tie-breaker following tonight's win.

Capital men's basketball returns to action this Saturday when it travels to Berea to take on the Yellow Jackets of Baldwin-Wallace for a 4 p.m. start. The game will be broadcast on tape delay on Sports Time Ohio (Time Warner Cable channel 34) at 9 p.m.