The Wilmington College men's basketball team allowed a pair of double-figure runs, one in each half, and fell to Capital Wednesday, 81-71, in Ohio Athletic Conference action in the Capital Center.
"We had too many inconsistent periods throughout the game," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "We didn't come out the gates great. It was a pretty sloppy first half. I thought we regrouped, and had a great start to the second half with the energy, effort and enthusiasm we need to win games. But, we kind of dug ourselves into too big of a hole to dig out of."
The first of the two runs came during a three-minute stretch midway through the first half as the Crusaders took the first double figure lead of the game with a 13-2 run. The scoring spurt extended to 22-7, and Capital had its biggest lead of the game at 16 points.
A 10-0 run that spanned the end of the first half, and the beginning of the second, allowed WC to pull to with six less than two minutes into the final half. Capital was able to stem the tide, and Wilmington trimmed into a lead slightly, cutting to four with 15:53 left, leading to a CU timeout.
Capital exploded out of the timeout by scoring eight straight, and 10 of the next 12, to reclaim a double-digit advantage.
"Our sloppiness with the ball and lack of execution on the offensive end really hurt us from a defensive standpoint," Hunt said of the two runs. "It didn't allow us to get into positions to be successful defensively. When you are guarding the likes of Mark Minch, you better be in position because he is an explosive basketball player, and he demonstrated that tonight.
"We have struggled all year to sustain effort and play at the level, both offensively and defensively from an execution standpoint, to compete to win games," Hunt continued. "It was kind of the same formula tonight. We had some good stretches where we were a very good basketball team. We have to do a better job over these last seven games of sustaining the effort that makes us successful on both ends of the floor."
Three players scored in double figures, led by senior Zach McCorkle (Cincinnati, OH/Winton Woods), who finished with 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Sophomore Christian Jones (Hamilton, OH/Hamilton) added 15 points, while sophomore D.J. Iles (Fayetteville, OH/Fayetteville Perry) recorded 13 points with a team-high four assists.
Wilmington (3-13 overall, 2-8 OAC) returns home to face Heidelberg in Ohio Athletic Conference action. Members of the OAC and North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), in conjunction with National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) will host the Coaches vs Cancer Sneakers and Suits game.
Both coaches will be wearing gym shoes and orange ties. The 20 schools of the OAC and NCAC will be collecting money for the Leukemia Foundation in the name of Capital head coach Damon Goodwin.
The Wilmington athletic department will also add the name assistant baseball coach Randy Abrams to the charitable donations.
