WHEATON, ILL. – The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball opened the 2017-18 season as it defeated the No.10-nationally ranled the University of Wisconsin at River Falls by a final score of 68-65 in the opening game of the Lee Pfund Classic hosted by Wheaton College inside King Arena.
BW (1-0) advances to the championship game tomorrow night and will face host Wheaton at 9 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets had two players score in double figures as senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Cam Kuhn (Vermilion)and junior All-OAC guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/Lincoln) each scored 23 points.
River Falls (1-1), who plays in tomorrow's consolation game, was led by Alex Henrik as he scored a game-high 26 points.
BW jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the first half when Battle stole the ball and scored the fast-break layup at the 12:40 mark. The Falcons responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead down to 16-12 when Matt Keller hit a jumper at 10:12. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 9-0 run to push its lead to 25-12 when Battle buried a three-pointer at the 7:50 mark. River Falls came back with a 14-8 run to cut the lead down to 33-26 when Henrik knocked down a jumper at 3:00. BW outscored the Falcons 3-2 down the stretch and led 36-28 at halftime.
River Falls opened the second half on an 13-3 run to take a 41-39 lead on a jumper by Austin Heidecker at the 14:27 mark. The Yellow Jackets answered with an 8-0 run to take a 47-41 lead on a jumper by Kuhn at 12:13. The Falcons responded with a 11-0 run to take a 52-47 lead when Logan Halvorson buried a three-pointer at 8:01 mark. BW went on a 13-7 run to take s 60-59 lead when senior forward Mike Kaminski (Medina) buried a triple at 4:17. The Yellow Jackets outscored River Falls 8-6 down the stretch to pick up the 68-65.
Following Saturday's game, BW returns to action on Tuesday, November 21 when it hosts Alfred State (N.Y.) University in its home opener in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 5 p.m. Fans can watch all of the action live at http://www.bwyellowjackets.com/x/ri2ev
