COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Capital University men's basketball team fell by a final score of 89-71 at the hands of No. 18 Case Western Reserve University on Tuesday night. 

The loss drops Capital back to 2-3 on the young season and CWRU improves to 5-0 on the year. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Comets jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead thanks to back-to-back layups from Justin Nixon and Carter Combs. After a bit of back-and-forth, Capital found themselves ahead 10-7 just over five minutes thanks to a layup from Kaleb Crawford. 

A few moments later, Capital would take their final lead of the game at 19-18 on a jumper from Nixon at 19-18 with 10:33 left in the half. 

From that moment on, the Spartans garnered full control of the contest and built a six point lead at the break, up 39-33. 

In the second half, a 16-4 run busted the game open for the visitors and all but finished off the result.

Capital's Joe Thompson, Alex Eyink, Carter Combs, and Justin Nixon among others had big buckets in the second period of play, but in the end the Spartans offense was too much for the Comets to handle and the game ended 89-71 in the visitors' favor.

THE NUMBERS
Justin Nixon led the squad in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. An 8-for-11 night from the field left the sophomore from Minster with 17 points and he bolstered his numbers by pulling down eight rebounds and making two blocks as well as dishing out two assists. Nixon had set a new career-high before halftime, beating out his old number of 10 with 14 points in the period. In the second half, he would go on to add three more and finish with 17.

Joe Thompson scored 13 points off the bench thanks to a 3-of-5 effort from range and a 4-for-4 mark at the free throw line. He added an assist and a steal. 

Carter Combs, Alex Eyink and Kaleb Crawford combined for 22 points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. 

McKane Finkenbine scored five points. 

Brody Gowen scored the first four points of his career and added an offensive board to go with it. 

THE OPPONENT
Points - Ian Elam (20)
Assists - Danny Frauenheim (5)
Rebounds - Luke Thorburn (11)
Blocks - Umar Rashid (3)
Steals - Three Players (1)

UP NEXT
Capital will travel across town to kickstart the OAC schedule with a match-up at Otterbein on Saturday, December 3rd at 7 p.m. This will serve as the first installment of the Crosstown Rivalry Series presented by Byers Airport Subaru. 

BATTLE FOR THE OAR NOTE
Moving forward, sports such as basketball, baseball and softball, that compete against Otterbein twice in a single regular season will only play for the oar trophy in the second game each season, thus only exchanging the trophy a maximum of one time during a single season. This year, that game will take place at Capital on Saturday, January 21st at 7 p.m.