BEREA, OHIO - Sophomore forward Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/Walsh Jesuit) scored a game-high 21 points as the Baldwin Wallace men's basketball team defeated Capital, 86-79, today (Saturday, January 8, 2011) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center in Berea. The victory was the fourth straight for Yellow Jackets while the loss ended Capital's three-game winning streak.
For BW, now 7-7 overall and 3-4 in the OAC, freshman forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) and freshman guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland/Senior) scored 14 points each while freshman guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Holy Name) added 13 points. Capital, now 9-4 overall and 5-2 in the OAC, was led by senior forward Scott Robertson with 19 points and six rebounds.
In the first half, the Crusaders started the scoring when Robertson split a pair of free throws at the 19:22 mark. They Yellow Jackets responded right away when Krakowiak canned a three pointer to take a 3-1 advantage with 19:05 remaining.
The two teams battled back and forth until Fairhurst buried a trey to give BW a 14-11 lead at the 13:15 mark. Capital responded with a free throw from Robertson and a three pointer by sophomore forward Spencer Niekamp to regain the lead, 15-14, with 11:35 remaining.
The game would be tied on four more occasions with the last coming at 30-30 with 5:06 remaining in the half. BW then went on a 10-0 run to increase its lead to as many as ten points on two occasions. The run was sparked by Ameen and Krakowiak with four points apiece. The Yellow Jackets outscored Capital 14-4 over the remainder of the half to take a 44-34 lead.
In the second half, the Yellow Jackets continued their run when Payne made a pair of free throws and a jumper to give BW a 48-34 lead with 18:38 remaining.
Capital then used a 13-3 run to cut BW's lead to four with 13:43 left when sophomore wing Michael Sommer made a layup. Fairhurst then canned his third triple of the game to start a 7-0 run and push the lead back to 11 with 12:48 to go.
The Yellow Jackets then went on a 13-2 run to increase the lead to a game high 17 points. Ameen and Payne both scored five points each during that stretch to spark BW. Capital refused to give up as they cut the lead to six points, 73-67, when junior wing Kelly Winter made a pair of free throws at the 3:03 mark.
Senior guard Taylor Roth (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) recorded career-highs in points with nine and assists with five while junior guard Promis Cabbil (Elyria/Senior) dished out a career-high nine assists.
BW will return to action on Wednesday, January 12 when it travels to Alliance, Ohio to play OAC-rival the University of Mount Union in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex 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
In addition, two BW 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.
Also on Jan. 29 when the Yellow Jackets play Wilmington, it is Al Sirat Grotto Day with partial gate proceeds going to benefit the Grotto's two philanthropies of assisting handicapped children with dentistry expenses and assisting the expenses for children with cerebral palsy.
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.
