COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Capital University men's basketball team pulled out a 76-72 win in a thriller at home against Muskingum University, snapping their 3 game losing streak. A 47.7% field goal percentage and a dominant game on the boards helped push the Comets over the edge in overtime.
The victory pushes Capital to 10-6 on the season, as well as making them now 4-5 in OAC conference play. With the Comet victory, Muskingum moves to 4-12 while continuing their losing streak in the conference, now 0-9.
Both teams came out of the gate with hard-nosed defensive performances. Although the Muskies played hard on defense, it wasn't enough to shut down the Comet's efficient scoring effort, shooting 48.3% from the floor in the first half. Capital's dominant 20-14 advantage on the glass, alongside their effective night from the field propelled them to be ahead 34-24 at halftime.
Ryan Suever came up big for the Comets this half, scoring an impactful eight points combined with three rebounds.
Capital came out of the locker room ready to play in the second half, going up by as much as 21 points during the contest. This all-around team effort was led by a frontcourt combo of
Carter Combs (12 pts) and
Dom Moegerle (14 pts). Combs combined his scoring performance with eight rebounds, continuing Capital's dominance on the glass. Despite this, the end of the second half rendered a score of 66-66.
The Comets started off overtime with four unanswered points before the Muskies answered back with some buckets of their own, tying the game. Capital eventually pulled away, and two clutch free throws from
McKane Finkenbine closed it out and the Comets prevailed with a final score of 76-72.
THE NUMBERS
Ryan Suever (12 pts),
Carter Combs (12 pts), and
Dom Moegerle (14 pts) led the scoring effort for the Comets. Combs had an impressive all around performance raking in eight boards, two assists, and two steals. Moegerle and Suever seemingly couldn't miss, going 60% and 71.4% from the field respectively.
Nate Gerber had a dominant game in the post scoring 11 points, shooting an efficient 57.1% from the field.
Baden Forup led the Comets on the glass with nine boards, eight of which occurred on the defensive end.
McKane Finkenbine had an all around performance scoring 10 points and dishing out four assists.
UP NEXT
The Comets will travel to Westerville to take on rival school Otterbein in a can't-miss battle for the oar at 7:00 pm on January 20, 2024. The Comets will be aiming to make it a season-sweep over the Cardinals while also looking to re-claim the Oar after Otterbein won the second game of the season series in 2022-23.
