BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace College senior standout and team captain Andrew Bene (Hinckley/ Medina Highland) has been selected as this week's Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week.

Bene earned the honor for helping the Yellow Jackets capture a tournament title at the 29th Annual Smokey Ballenger Classic at Otterbein College on December 27-28, 2008. He also was named as the tournament Most Valuable Player.

In the two games, Bene scored 39 points, grabbed 23 rebounds and made 14-of-19 field goal attempts for 73.7 percent efficency. In addition for Bene, it marked the third straight all-tournament team he has been named to this season. The other two were at the Calvin (Mich.) College and Allegheny (Pa.) College tourneys.

"Andrew definitely played like a senior team leader and we are very happy for him to be recognized by the OAC," said first-year B-W Head Coach Duane Sheldon. "He was dominant both in terms of scoring and rebounding and Andrew shot the ball very well."

En route to the title, B-W beat Thomas More (Ky.) College, 69-66, in the first round on December 27 and followed that effort with a 72-67 championship game victory against North Central (Ill.) College.

Against Thomas More, Bene canned eight-of-11 shots from the floor and four-of-eight from the foul line for a game-high 20 points to go with a game-high 14 rebounds. He also had one assist and two blocked shots in 27 minutes of playing time.  Against North Central in the title game, Bene connected on six-of-eight floor shots and seven-of-12 charity tosses for a team-high 19 points. He also had a game-high nine rebounds, three assists and NO turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

After 11 games, B-W leads the Yellow Jackets (4-7 overall) with 15.7 points-per-game, an OAC-leading 10.2 rebounds-per-game and 14 blocked shots. He also shoots a team-leading 57 percent from the field (69-of-121) and has 11 assists and seven steals.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, January 7 when they return to Westerville to resume OAC play against Otterbein College at 7:30 p.m. The next home game is on Saturday, January 10 versus Muskingum College at 3:00 p.m. in a game that will aired by SportsTime Ohio.

Media and fans are reminded that they can listen to almost every B-W men's and women's basketball games LIVE on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, and via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com.

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.