COLUMBUS, OH – The La Roche men's basketball team hit the road on Wednesday to take on a tough Capital University squad. The Redhawks held a three-point halftime lead but ultimately fell 77-67 in their 2017-18 opener.

La Roche had to overcome a sluggish start to enter intermission with a 32-29 lead. Dion Etheridge opened the game with a three-pointer but the Redhawks struggled hitting just 4 of 13 field goals over the opening twelve minutes.

Even though La Roche was cold from the field, they were able to keep it close by protecting the ball and crashing the boards.

Tyler Frederick sparked the Redhawk run draining a three-pointer with a little over seven minutes left in the half. La Roche caught fire making 7 of the next 9 shots including a pair of three-pointers by Trell Thomas. Thomas entered the locker room with 12 points.

Etheridge and Zach Gould hit threes early in the second half as La Roche maintained a small lead at the 14:12 mark.

Capital's Dan Auble responded with a three-pointer for a 47-45 lead and ran that lead to seven with less than eleven minutes to play. Capital extended their lead to ten but a pair of Frederick free throws got it back to five at the 5:56 mark.

Capital rallied scoring 9 of the next 10 points and hung on for the ten point win.

Thomas scored a game-high 25 points while Arnes Bajgora and Zach Gould added 11 apiece.

The men's basketball team will travel to Carnegie Mellon on Friday. Game is a 7pm tip.