The Muskingum men's basketball team defeated OAC foe Capital, 58-55, after junior guard MJ Smith drained a three-pointer in the final seconds of the game to lift the Muskies in the season opener.

The Basics

• Records: Muskingum (1-0, 1-0), Capital (0-1, 0-1)
• Location: Capital Center Performance Arena

Inside The Numbers

• Junior MJ Smith led the Muskies with a career-high 20 points, and added three assists and two rebounds.
• Junior Carson Carter notched 15 points and grabbed six rebounds.
• Senior Alex Masinelli chipped in six points, while dishing out a team-high six assists and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
• As a team, Muskingum went 21-of-57 (36.8%) from the field and went 9-of-24 (37.5%) from behind the arc.
• Leading the Crusaders were Joe Hartmann, Griffin Doseck, and Reed Bradfield who each scored seven points on the night.
• As a team, Capital went 20-of-61 (32.8%) from the floor and shot 7-of-19 (36.8%) from the three-point line.

Game Highlights

Both teams had slow starts in the season opener as the score was in favor of the Crusaders, 8-5, within the first five minutes of the game, but saw Capital start building its lead to 14-5 with 12:44 left in the first half. Muskingum started cutting the deficit by going on a 7-0 run to make it 14-12 with 10 minutes remaining until halftime. Both teams would go back-and-forth for the rest of the stanza and saw the Crusaders take a 31-26 lead into the break.

The Muskies saw themselves down 10 points within the first three minutes of the second half at 39-29, but answered with a 10-0 run to tie the game at 39-39 with under 13 minutes remaining. The final 10 minutes of the competition was a battle between that came down to the wire with Capital's David Sanford making a three-point basket to tie the game up at 55-55, with 16 seconds left on the clock. The final points came from Muskingum junior MJ Smith as he made a clutch three-point bucket with three seconds remaining in the ballgame off an assist from senior Alex Masinelli to lift the Muskies over Capital, 58-55.

What's Next

The Muskies next look to defend home court in their home opener when they take on Capital again in OAC action on Saturday, January 23. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. at the Anne C. Steele Center with the pregame show starting at 5:50 p.m. on the Muskie Sports Network located on fightingmuskies.com.