GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 15, 2022) – The Denison University men's basketball team fought hard and held a one-point lead in the final 21 seconds of overtime, but in the end, the Big Red dropped their 2022-23 home opener by a final score of 83-82 against Capital University on Tuesday night inside Livingston Gymnasium.

After trailing by as many as 11 points (38-27) in the first half and by 12 points (48-36) three minutes into the second half, Denison (2-2 overall) battled all the way back and tied the game at 63-63 after a 3-pointer by Scotty Dean with seven minutes left to play in regulation.

The teams then traded the lead four times until an and-one by Ricky Radtke made it a three-point lead (72-69) for the Big Red with two minutes to go.

In the final one minute and seven seconds of regulation, Capital (1-0) took the lead back at 74-72 on an and-one of its own before Radtke scored on a layup with 45 seconds left to tie it up again. Both teams then missed a go-ahead jumper in the final 22 seconds to force overtime.

Tied at 78-78 in the final 2:25 of overtime, Will Hunter went to the free throw line and put the Big Red up 80-78 with a pair of makes from the line, but then after a turnover from both teams, a timely 3-pointer by the Comets made it an 81-80 advantage for Capital with a minute and a half remaining.

Fortunately for the Big Red, after a pair of misses at the line by Capital with only 37 seconds left, Radtke did what he does best and scored in the paint to put Denison back ahead at 82-81.

The Comets, however, would not be denied as Joe Thompson got past his defender and drove toward the hoop before throwing up a nice left-handed floater to make it 83-82 Capital with under 10 seconds on the clock.

Then after a timeout by both teams, Denison tried to draw up its best play on a sideline out-of-bounds with five seconds left to get the win, but a missed layup on a rushed attempt by Radtke at the end was all she wrote.

Capital was 4-for-5 (80 percent) from the field and 1-for-1 from three in the overtime period while Denison was only 2-for-6 (33.3 percent) and missed its lone 3-point attempt.

In all, the contest was highlighted by seven ties and 10 lead changes.

Hunter led all players in scoring with 21 points on 50 percent shooting (5-for-10) from the field, a 3-for-5 clip from 3-point range and a perfect 8-for-8 mark from the charity stripe. He also led the Big Red with four of their 15 assists as a team.

Radtke was next with 18 points on effective 8-for-11 shooting overall while adding a game-high eight rebounds, and Tyler Miller scored 13 points while Dean, who was 3-for-5 from three, and Gates Flynn both added nine points.

Tuesday's game against Capital was just the beginning of a four-game homestand for the Big Red to finish off of the month of November. Next up will be a tough matchup this weekend against Carnegie Mellon University, with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 19.