BEREA, OHIO - Senior center Maurice Haynes scored a game-high 25 points as the John Carroll University mens basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference and Cleveland cross-town rival Baldwin Wallace University, 82-73, tonight (Tuesday, December 21, 2010) in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center in Berea.
In addition to Haynes for JCU, now 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the OAC, junior guard Corey Shontz scored 18 points, junior forward Mark Hester with 11 and junior guard Michael Hartnett with 10. For BW, now 3-7 overall and 2-4 in the OAC, junior All-OAC point guard Promis Cabbil (Elyria), sophomore forward Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/ Walsh Jesuit) and freshman guard Kyle Payne (Brunswick) each had 15 points and freshman guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Holy Name) had 14.
In the first half, JCU jumped out to a 7-2 lead at the 17:42 mark when Harnett made a three-pointer. BW came right back to make it 7-6 at the 16:25 mark when Cabbil stole the ball and passed to senior guard Zane Meeder (Erie, Pa./ Fairview) for an uncontested layup.
The Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game at 12-11 at the 14:27 mark when Krakowiak made two free throws, and extended the lead to 15-11 at the 13:56 mark when he canned a trey from the left corner. Then the lead grew to 18-11 when freshman guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) canned a triple at 11:12.
After the lead grew to 22-13 when sophomore forward Scott Branchick (Mentor) scored on a layup off of a fastbreak, JCU pulled back to within five points at 22-17 when Hester scored on a runner at 7:49. BW then outscored the Blue Streaks 14-5 to take its largest lead in the game at 36-22 at the 3:49 mark when Cabbil stole the ball and drove the length of the court for a layup.
BW continued its onslaught and grew the lead to 18 points at 43-25 with 2:22 remaining when Cabbil made another steal, scored, was fouled and made the free throw. The lead grew to a high of 19 points at 44-25 with 1:27 left when Payne made one of two foul shots. JCU scored the final four points to cut BW's lead to 44-29 at the intermission.
In the second half, JCU scored the first four points to cut the lead to 44-33 at the 19:10 before Meeder canned a three-pointer to push it back to 14 points at 47-33 with 18:45 left. JCU then scored the next four points to climb back to 47-37 with 17:54 left when Shontz made a layup.
JCU finally cut the lead to single digits at 48-39 when Haynes made a hook shot at 17:07, but BW came right back when Ameen scored, was fouled and made his free throw at 16:58 for a 51-39 advantage.
JCU kept up the pressure and closed to 53-46 with 14:09 left when Shontz followed a missed shot with a rebound and a basket. Then the Blue Streak went on a 7-3 run to close to 56-53 at 11:04 when junior forward Connor Tilow grabbed an offensive rebound and scored.
JCU finally tied the score at 56-56 with 10:32 left when Harnett canned a three-pointer from the left corner, and then took its first lead of the second stanza when Haynes made one of two free throws at 9:41. The lead then grew to three points at 59-56 when Shontz made a layup at 9:10.
Following a BW basket by Payne, JCU rattled off five straight points and took its largest lead of the night at 64-58 when Hester canned a trey at 8:06. The lead then grew to 10 points when Shontz made a runner in the lane and was fouled. Following two Meyer foul shots via a technical foul, Shontz missed his free throw at 5:35 and JCU led, 71-61.
After a pair of Payne foul shots at 5:11 and a layup at 4:41 made the score 71-65, Meyer converted a pair of his own foul shots to push it back to eight points at 73-65 with 4:25 left. That was as close as BW would get to the Blue Streaks.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, December 29 when they host Waynesburg University in the Ursprung Gym at 7:30 p.m. Fans can listen to all of the action on either campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, or via the WBW Internet web site at www.wBW.com.
Following its game versus Waynesburg, BW is idle until it competes at the ECEC Holiday Classic in Kissimmee, Florida on January 3-4, 2011. BW plays Vassar (N.Y.) on Jan. 3 at 12:00 noon and plays U/Mass-Boston on Jan. 4 at 12:00 noon.
In addition, two Yellow Jacket women's and men's basketball doubleheaders will be telecast on SportsTime Ohio this winter. The games are the January 29, 2011 twinbill versus Wilmington College and the Third Annual Take a Kid to the Game Day doubleheader versus Ohio Northern University on February 19, 2011.
FOR MORE SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
