BEREA, OHIO - Junior center Scott Schnelle scored 18 points and grabbed a game-high-tying eight rebounds as the Ohio Northern University men's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival Baldwin Wallace University, 73-63, tonight (Wednesday, December 15, 2010) in the ONU Sports Center in Ada.
In addition to Schnelle for the Polar Bears, now 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the OAC, freshman guard Jared Horstman scored 12 points and freshman forward Joe Staley added 10 markers and a game-high-tying eight rebounds and sophomore guard Tony Meyer had 10 points.
For BW, now 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the OAC, freshman forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) led the way with 18 points and a game-high-tying eight rebounds and junior All-OAC point guard Promis Cabbil (Elyria/ Senior) scored 13 points and had a team-best six assists.
In the first half, the Polar Bears opened a 4-0 lead at the 16:19 mark when freshman forward Joe Staley made two of three foul shots. The Yellow Jackets then went on a 5-0 run and took a 5-4 lead at the 15:26 mark when Cabbil made two foul shots. After three lead changes, ONU gained a four-point lead at 11-7 with 13:54 left when Schnelle made a jump shot, was fouled and made the free throw to complete the three-point play.
The Yellow Jackets then went on a 6-0 run and took a 13-11 lead when junior backup point guard Matt Triana (North East, Pa./ North East) made a running jumper in the lane. Following a 13-13 tie and six lead changes, BW scored four straight point to take a 22-19 lead with 6:22 left when Payne made a layup to complete a fastbreak. After three lead changes and three ties, including the last one at 29-29, ONU went on a 5-0 run and gained its largest lead of the stanza at 34-29 when Horstman made a three-pointer.
In the second half, BW twice cut the ONU lead to one point with the last time at 37-36 before the Polar Bears scored eight straight points, including a layup by freshman forward Dominque Royal at the 15:27 mark for a 45-36 lead. The advantage grew to 12 points at 50-38 with 12:28 left when sophomore guard Taylor Kuhlman made a jump shot, was fouled and made the free throw. The lead grew to 13 points at 53-40 at the 10:25 mark when Meyer made three foul shots.
The Yellow Jackets then scored five straight points to close to within eight points at 53-45 with 9:28 left when senior guard Zane Meeder (Erie, Pa./ Fairview) made a layup, was fouled and made the free throw. BW continued its run by outscoring ONU 7-2 to close to 55-52 when Meeder again canned a jumper, was fouled and made the free throw. Then, following an ONU foul shot, Payne canned a three-pointer at the 7:29 mark to make the score 56-55 in favor of ONU.
ONU regained its four-point lead at the 5:46 mark when Horstman made a jumper, was fouled and completed the three-point play when he made the foul shot. Following a Cabbil jumper that brought the score to 59-57, Horstman made one of two foul shots for ONU and Ameen made one of two for BW to make the score 60-58 in favor of ONU with 4:15 remaining.
Staley then gave ONU a 62-58 lead at the 3:38 mark, Kuhlman increased the advantage to five points at 63-58 at 3:01, but Cabbil pulled the Yellow Jackets back to 63-60 with a pair of foul shots. Kuhlman the countered with two foul shots of his own at 2:41 to put the lead back to five points at 65-60. After each team went cold from the floor, ONU's Meyer made a pair of free throws at 1:12 and two more with 1:01 left to push the lead to 69-60.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 18 when they host OAC rival Muskingum University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium at 3:00 p.m. Fans can listen to all of the action on either campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, or via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com.
In addition, two Yellow Jacket women's and men's basketball doubleheaders will be telecast on SportsTime Ohio this winter. The games are the January 29, 2011 twinbill versus Wilmington College and the Third Annual Take a Kid to the Game Day doubleheader versus Ohio Northern University on February 19, 2011.
FOR MORE SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.