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 BW 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, BW 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, BW 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 BW 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 BW 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 BW athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.