DELAWARE, Ohio – The Ohio Wesleyan University men's basketball team returned home to Branch Rickey Arena for the first time in 17 days on Tuesday night, hosting their annual Tuesday-before-Thanksgiving game against Capital. It was a tale of two halves with the first half dominated by defense and second half being a high-scoring affair. In the end, the Battling Bishops pulled away with a strong inside game, winning 77-69.

The Bishops break even at 3-3 on the new year. Capital falls to 4-2.

The defensive battle was made evident early on in the first half as neither side got on the scoreboard until nearly three minutes in. Even after the first bucket finally broke through, it remained a very low-scoring game for next few minutes with neither team wavering on the defensive end, resulting in quite a few shot clock violations.

Around the 13-minute mark, the Red and Black started to rally for a 9-0 run that put them ahead 14-9 by the halfway point of the half. Even so, the Comets kept it close and pulled OWU back to within one with just under a minute left at 26-25. Isaac Ward would put the Bishops up three at the half with a pair of free throws with 15 seconds on the clock, 28-25.

The pace of play completely changed in the second half leading to both teams nearly doubling first half outputs. Ohio Wesleyan seemed to be a few steps ahead throughout the second 20 minutes, holding a steady advantage of around five points. The Battling Bishops increased that lead up to eight in the final few minutes, consistently responding to any pushback from Capital. Ward would put the finishing touches on the game with a free throw with 18 seconds left to bring the final scoreline to 77-69.

THE NUMBERS
Isaac Ward led the OWU offense with a game-high 20 points on 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. He also had a season-high five assists along with five rebounds.

Jake Lowman nabbed a career-high 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting with a career-high 4-for-5 from behind the three-point line. He also collected a career-high four steals with five rebounds, one block, and one assist.

Peyton Frey pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and scored 12 points alongside one assist and one steal.

Quinn Hart tallied nine points with four rebounds and one assist.

James McCarthy scored seven points and dished out two assists.

UP NEXT
The Bishops take a short break from Thanksgiving weekend before returning to action on December 3rd at home in their NCAC-opener against Wittenberg at 7 p.m.