BEREA, OHIO-- Senior guard Luke Conley scored a team-high 16 points and led three double figure scorers as the Mount Union College men's basketball team defeated Baldwin-Wallace College, 73-71 in overtime, tonight (Wednesday, January 29, 2009) in Ohio Athletic Conference action at the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Recreation Center in Berea.
With its win, Mount Union improves to 10-8 overall and 4-7 in the OAC and ended a seven-game losing streak. With its loss, B-W falls to 6-12 overall and 2-9 in the OAC and lost for the fifth straight game.
In addition to Conley for the Purple Raiders, senior guard Chris Switzer scored 14 points and junior guard Sam King had 14. BW was led by a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds from senior post Andrew Bene (Hinckley/Medina Highland). Junior guard Louis Tumblin (Elyria/ Senior) also had 16 points and junior All-OAC forward Kyle Brown (Strongsville) had 12.
In the first half, B-W trailed by three, at 19-16, when senior Academic All-OAC guard Dennis Santiago (Brookpark/ Midpark) tied the contest with a three-pointer at the 8:50 mark. The Yellow Jackets then outscored the Raiders 16-8 over the next 6:45 behind eight points from Bene to take a 35-27 lead. Each side scored four points over the duration of the half, including Bene connecting on a layup with two seconds left to give B-W a 39-31 lead at halftime.
The teams exchanged buckets to open the second half before Mount Union embarked on a 16-0 run culminating in a Chris Switzer break-a-way layup at the 14:03 mark to take a commanding, 49-41 lead. B-W got a layup from junior center Ben Dobberstein (Berea) at 13:10 before the Raiders scored five points more to make the score 54-43 with 11:43 remaining. Overall, the Raiders outscored B-W 21-2 to open the second period.
The Yellow Jackets got back in the game behind seven straight points from Tumblin to close to 54-50 with 8:14 left in the game. Mt. Union answered back with five straight points and eventually built its lead to 61-56 at the 5:26 mark. B-W cut the deficit to three, at 61-58, when Brown made a layup. A Tumblin free throw at 4:14 left brought B-W to within two points at 61-59 and the Yellow Jackets tied the score at 61-61 with 3:19 left when Bene made two charity tosses. Bene's charity shots capped an 18-7 run for B-W.
The Raiders broke the tie and took a 63-61 lead when Conley scored on a jumper, increased their lead to 64-61 when King made one of two foul shots at 1:24 remaining and led 66-61 when King made two more free throws with 1:00 left. The Jackets came right back and tied the score at 66-66 with three free throws from Brown.
In overtime, B-W gained a 68-66 lead when Bene scored at 4:49, but it was short-lived when Mt. Union freshman forward Trevor Groot nailed a jumper at 4:05 with the short clock nearly running out.
The Raiders then grabbed a 70-68 lead when Conley made two foul shots at 1:01, but that was short-lived asTumblin scored on a driving layup with 31 seconds left, was fouled and made the free throw for a 71-70 lead. Mt. Union regained the lead at 72-71 when Conley scored on a layup. After a BW miss, Mt. Union sophomore LaRon Marshall scored the final point of the game by making one of two foul shots. B-W then missed another shot and Mt. Union gained its win and ended its losing streak.
The Yellow Jackets return to action on Saturday, Jan. 31 when they travel to Ada, Ohio to play OAC-rival Ohio Northern University in the ONU Sports Center at 3:00 p.m.
Media and fans are reminded that they can listen to all remaining B-W men's and women's basketball games LIVE on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, and/ or via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com . All home games are on Internet and all away games are both on radio and the Internet.
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.
