BEXLEY - An offensive rebound and layup with 3.2 remaining gave Capital the 70-68 victory over Wilmington Tuesday at the Capital Center in Ohio Athletic Conference action. Junior Klarke Ransome's (Richwood, OH/North Union) three-pointer as time expired hit the back of the rim.

"We did a great job of defending (the final play)," said WC head coach K.C. Hunt. "As Ben (Vonderhaar) went to secure the rebound, he stumbled a bit and (Spencer) Niekamp was able to poke the ball away and hit a floater.

"It was a great college basketball game," Hunt continued. "Of course we are extremely disappointed we came out on the wrong end. A lot of guys made plays on both teams. I thought we showed a lot of character and a lot of fight. If we continue to play with unbelievable effort and unbelievable fight, we will win a lot of games."

Early in the second half Wilmington faced a 10-point deficit, but went an 11-4 spurt to bring itself to within one possession. Neither team, over the final 7:36, could put a run together to seize control of the game.

With Capital maintaining its advantage, the Fightin' Quakers took their first lead of the second half with two free throws from Vonderhaar (Cincinnati, OH/Colerain) with a little bit over two minutes remaining. The Crusaders answered by sandwiching three-pointers around a senior Brandon Candella (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) triple, and CU led by two as the clock ticked under one minute.

Sophomore Dwight Johnson (Dayton, OH/Jefferson) nailed a jumper to knot the game at 68 with 41 seconds remaining setting up the final play.

Capital had its initial lay-up attempt blocked by Ransome, but Niekamp was able to come up with the loose ball and scoring the winning basket.

Wilmington raced out to a five-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game, then the Crusaders caught fire. Capital, which shot 62 percent from the field in the first half, drilled back-to-back three-pointers during a 13-2 run that turned its deficit into a six-point lead.

WC's deficit grew to as much as eight in the opening half, and trailed by seven at the break.

Wilmington had a quartet of double-digit scorers, led by Candella, who tied his season-high with 19 points. Vonderhaar tallied a career-high 16 points in the loss, while junior Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) recorded 11 points with a team-high eight rebounds. Ransome chipped in with 10 points.

"I thought Ben played tremendous on both ends of the floor tonight," said Hunt. "He was aggressive and around a lot of rebounds. He was active on both ends of court."

The Fightin' Quakers (4-6 overall, 1-3 OAC) looks to get back on the winning side of the ledger 3 p.m. Saturday, hosting Heidelberg.