BEREA, OHIO -- Senior center Andrew Bene (Hinckley/ Medina Highland) scored a game and career-high 31 points and became the 36th player in Baldwin-Wallace College men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points as the Yellow Jackets defeated Marietta College, 76-64, today (Saturday, February 21, 2009) on Seniors' Day and 'Take a Kid to the Game' Day in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea. It was the final game of the season for the Yellow Jackets.
With its win, B-W ends its season at 8-17 overall and 4-14 in the OAC. With its loss, Marietta is now 12-13 overall and ended the OAC regular season at 7-9 and opens OAC Tournament play next Wednesday.
In addition to Bene's 31 points, he had a game-high 15 rebounds to record his 12th double figure scoring and rebounding game of the season. He finished 35th all-time with 1,009 career points and 10th with 606 career rebounds
Also in double figures for B-W were freshman guard Promis Cabill (Elyria/ Senior) with 12 points and senior two-time Academic All-OAC guard Dennis Santiago (Brook Park/ Midpark) with 12 points. Marietta was led by freshman guard Trevor Halter with 19 points. In addition, freshman forward Kevin Knab had 18 points and freshman center Connor Kilpatrick and 11 points.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to an eight-point lad at 10-2 at the 17:12 mark when Cabill made a steal and a lay up. Bene helped the run with B-W's first eight points. The lead grew to 13 points at 17-4 at the 14:53 mark when senior two-time Academic All-OAC guard Dennis Santiago (Brook Park/Midpark)made a three-pointer.
Marietta then went on a 6-0 run to close to within 17-10 at the 11:24 mark when senior center Daun Lutes made a jump shot. B-W came right back with its own 13-6 run to build a 30-16 advantage at the 5:41 mark when Bene scored on a lay up. Marietta then returned with a 7-0 lead to close to within 30-23 with 3:27 remaining before the intermission when freshman guard Trevor Halter made a three-pointer. BW then went on a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the first stanza at 40-25 with 20 seconds left when junior All-OAC guard Kyle Brown (Strongsville) made a three-pointer. B-W also led at halftime, 40-28.
To start the second half, B-W outscored the Pioneers 7-4 to rebuild its 15-point lead at 47-32 with 15:29 left when Santiago made a lay up. Bene scored his 1,000th career point on two foul shots with 12:37 left and BW leading 52-38.
Marietta began to claw its way back into the game with a 13-7 run to close within eight points at 59-51 with 6:50 left when Kilpatrick made a shot jump shot. The run continued and the Pioneers closed to five points at 65-60 with 4:10 left when Halter canned his fourth triple of the game. B-W then canned nine-of-10 foul shots in the final 3:51 to claim the victory.
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
