BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College men's basketball team lost to NAIA powerhouse Spring Arbor (Mich.) University, 66-61, tonight (Friday, November 21, 2008) in the first round of the Calvin College Tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
With its loss, B-W falls to 1-1 overall and plays in tomorrow's consolation game at 1:00 p.m. With its win, the Cougars are 8-1 overall.
The Yellow Jackets held an early 5-3 lead following a three-point play by senior post Andrew Bene (Hinckley/Medina Highland) at the 17:30 mark. Spring Arbor would score 11 of the game's next 13 points to go ahead 14-7 with 14:17 remaining in the first half. The Cougars built their lead to as many as 15 points, at 34-19, when Willie Pickvet scored on a jumper with 3:34 left before intermission. The Yellow Jackets got back-to-back three-pointers from senior guard Dennis Santiago (Brookpark/Midpark) and junior forward Kyle Brown (Strongsville) to cut the deficit to nine, but Spring Arbor would answer with a triple of their own to make the score 39-27 at half.
B-W trailed by double-figures for most of the second half but staged a late rally to cut the Spring Arbor lead to two on two separate occasions. The Jackets trailed by 14, at 55-41, with 9:25 remaining but battled back with a 9-2 run capped by a Brown jumper that made the score 56-50 with 6:06 left to play.
The Jackets continued to rally and got within two, at 60-58, when Bene connected on a pair of free throws at the 1:52 mark. Spring Arbor answered with a quick three from Josh Brandt to go ahead 63-58 but a three-point play by BW junior guard Louis Tumblin (Elyria/Senior) brought the Jackets back to within two, at 63-61, with 1:18 left in the period. However, Spring Arbor was able to hit three free throws in the final 13 seconds and kept the Yellow Jackets off the board to preserve the 66-61 victory.
B-W was led by Brown, who scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Bene recorded his second double-double in as many games with 17 points and 10 boards and shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.
Spring Arbor was led by a trio in double-figures, Kevin Ludwig with 16, Rob Boss with 14, and Pickvet with 11. The Cougars outshot BW 48.9% to 42.6% and held a 32-26 advantage on the glass.
Following tomorrow's consolation game versus either Calvin (Mich.) or Grace Bible (Mich.), the Yellow Jackets are back in action next Saturday and Sunday, November 29-30 when they travel to Meadville, Pennsylvania and play Ithaca, New York College in the first round of the Allegheny College Tournament at 6:00 p.m. Fans can listen to that game live on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, and via the WBW Internet web site.
The first home Yellow Jacket game is on Saturday, December 6 when B-W hosts Capital University in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for each team. That game will be televised by SportsTime Ohio. The game will be shown on STO (www.sportstimeohio.com) at 8:00 p.m. on December 6, at 1:00 p.m. on Dec. 7 and at 12:00 noon on Dec. 8.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Duane Sheldon, please call 440-826-2115 or e-mail at dsheldon@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.
