COLUMBUS – The Capital University men's basketball team used a combination of steady offense and timely defensive stops Saturday to knock off Baldwin Wallace 73-69 in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest at the Capital Center.

The Crusaders (8-9 overall, 5-5 OAC) smartly fouled leading by three with 16 seconds to play as the Yellow Jackets threatened to tie the contest. After Baldwin Wallace knocked down 1-of-2 at the free throw line, junior guard Adam Blake (Kingston, Ohio) hit a pair at the line to give Capital a 71-67 lead with 8.7 seconds to play.

The Yellow Jackets (9-8, 5-5) scored on the next possession, but freshman guard Curt Geise (Delphos, Ohio) calmly made a pair of free throws with 2.1 seconds on the clock to seal the Crusaders' win.

Geise tallied his third straight game in double-digit scoring with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting and a 7-for-7 effort at the free throw line to lead Capital. Junior guard Mike Augustine (Lexington, Ohio) registered 13 points and four assists, while Blake posted a career-high 12 points to go along with four assists.

Senior forward Ben Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) grabbed a team-best eight rebounds and continued his hot shooting at the Capital Center, hitting all three of his attempts. He has missed one shot in 14 attempts in his last four home games.

The Crusaders hit 49.1 percent from the field and 16-of-18 (88.9 percent) at the free throw line. Baldwin Wallace, the favorite to win the OAC in the preseason by the league's coaches, shot 41.7 percent and 18-of-20 (90 percent) at the free throw line.

In the first half, Augustine scored eight points in the first 3:39 of the affair as Capital jumped out to a 10-4 advantage at the 17:21 mark. After Baldwin Wallace tied the game at 12-12, Geise fueled a 7-0 run with a pair of jumpers to put the Crusaders back ahead 19-12 with 9:59 on the clock.

The Yellow Jackets rallied again to tie it at 23-23 with 3:51 to play, but Blake and Geise converted a pair of 3-point plays to make it 29-23 with just over two minutes left in the period. Capital led by as many as seven, but Baldwin Wallace scored the last five points of the half to cut its deficit to 33-31 heading into the locker room.

The Yellow Jackets took their first and only lead of the contest just under 40 seconds in to the second half, but Jackson's lay-up with 18:29 to play put the Crusaders back ahead.

Baldwin Wallace tied the game at 50-50 just under midway through the second half, then tied it again one minute later, but a 9-2 run, capped by a lay-up from Blake, gave Capital a 59-52 advantage with 7:24 on the clock.

The Crusaders led by as many as eight for the remainder of the contest before the Yellow Jackets made it a one-possession game with just over a minute to play.

The Crusaders hit the road Wednesday for an OAC contest at Heidelberg. Tip-off in Tiffin, Ohio, is slated for 7:30 p.m.