THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2001

'Berg doesn't squander fast start

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

Heidelberg iced the game at the foul line late, but it was a great first half that helped The 'Berg upset Ohio Athletic Conference rival Capital 70-65 Wednesday.

The 'Berg dominated the first 10 minutes of the game.

They jumped out 12-1 before going up 19-9 on Jon Otterbacher's layup at the 10:32 mark on the way to a 38-27 halftime lead.

They never trailed and connected on half of their field goal attempts (16 of 32) in the game's first 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the defense also shined. Heidelberg held the Crusaders, the OAC's best shooting team, to an 8-of-26 showing from the field in the first half.

"We were ready to play and we jumped on them right away, just really took them out of their game and executed the game plan," Heidelberg coach John Hill said. "Perfect execution. We won the game in the first 10 minutes.

"They're very athletic, very quick and very strong and we were able to shut their inside game down," he said. "They're No. 1 in the conference in shooting percentage. They've shot 50 percent from the field; I don't think they shot that tonight."

They didn't. The Crusaders finished up 19 of 56 on the night.

But that didn't stop Capital (10-5 overall, 6-3 OAC), which was coming off a big win over Baldwin-Wallace, from closing the gap in the second half.

Chris McGuire scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half for the Crusaders while Geron Tate popped in 12 of his 20 over the same stretch.

They helped Capital slowly chip away at the lead, closing to within 64-63 on a foul shot by Chuck Bihn (nine points) with 1:47 to go.

But Bihn fouled out moments later after missing his second free throw attempt and Heidelberg's Nick Filipic, who ended with 11 points, popped in two foul shots for a 66-63 edge.

McGuire's drive at the other end trimmed The 'Berg's lead to 66-65 with 1:04 to go, but the Crusaders had to foul to stop the clock and Ryan Forry went 1 of 2 at the line to give Heidelberg a 67-65 lead with 41.9 seconds left.

Capital couldn't score on its next possession and the Crusaders again had to foul Forry with 13.3 seconds on the clock. He hit both free throws to put Heidelberg up 69-65.

Capital's Tony Ruberg sprinted down court, but Heidelberg's Ryan Szepiela took a charge from him near the hoop with just under eight seconds to play to give the ball back to The 'Berg.

Szepiela was then fouled on the inbounds play and sank one of his two foul shots for the final margin of victory, a win that snapped a seven-game losing streak.

He'd end with a team-high 20 points for The 'Berg and six rebounds. Randy Evans added nine points and six assists, Paul Meyer scored nine points and Otterbacher and Forry both had seven points.

"First half, we did an excellent job offensively, and I was very pleased with that. We were able to score and then we were able to shut them down," Hill said. "We've been able to stop them, but then not be able to put it in the basket. Now we were able to do both things.

"What was nice, though, was at the end of the game, it got close and we were finally able to work through that. In the seven losses in a row that we've had, we've had a chance to win every one of those except one. We've lost them close and we've lost them at the end of the game.

"Tonight we were able to hold on -- we made the free throws, we made the play at the end of the game and we were able to hold them off for the win."