SALEM, Va. – The Capital Crusaders men's basketball team suffered a 58-53 defeat at the hands of Methodist University in Friday night's contest as part of Roanoke College's Dick Leftwich V-Foundation Classic.

After the Monarchs tied the game going into halftime, both Capital (1-2) and Methodist (2-1) remained within two possessions of one another for nearly the entire half. The Crusaders gained some momentum with under three minutes remaining when sophomore Tyrel Jackson (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) hit a three-point shot to give Capital the lead, 51-50. Ben Danhoff (Clyde, Ohio) added to that lead by hitting a two-point jumper to extend the lead to three.

The Monarchs then clamped down on defense and held the Crusaders scoreless for the final 2:01 of the contest while answering with eight unanswered points to close out the win. TJ Hill regained the lead for Methodist with a layup to overtake the Crusaders, 54-53. The Monarchs then shut the door by hitting four consecutive free throws.

Capital was unable to take advantage of an early lead it had acquired by creating a 13-2 run out of the gate. AJ Dixon (Hilliard, Ohio/Bradley) dropped eight points during that run, leading to team-high 14 points on the night.

Methodist slowly began to chip away at the lead using its short-range shooting to its advantage. After Darien Scott converted a three-point play, Desmond Parker scored four unanswered points to make it a 28-25 game. Down two, Parker hit a jumper before the buzzer sounded to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip.

Charles English (Cincinnati, Ohio) served as the second Crusaders player to wind up in double digits scoring, finishing the night with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from field-goal range and added three free throw makes.

Andrew Bolka scored seven points and recorded his second 10-plus rebound game, but struggled at the free throw line after converting just 3-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe.

As a team, Capital shot just 42.9 percent from the free throw line. In the second half they struggled shooting, going just 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) from the field after hitting 45.5 percent of their shots in the first half.

Methodist was led by Parker, who finished the night with a game-high 19 points. Tabias Hilliard and Mike Major each finished with 11 points. Hilliard and Park each made nine free throws to aid their numbers.

The Crusaders will play one more game as part of the weekend tournament, hosted by Roanoke College. Capital will play the loser of Roanoke/Southern Virginia University at either 12 p.m. or 2 p.m.