BEREA, OHIO -- The 2010-11 Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team returns eight letterman and three starters and are led by third-year Head Coach Duane Sheldon '93. After two seasons of building the program, Sheldon and his Yellow Jackets are ready to compete for an Ohio Athletic Conference title.
In Sheldon's second season with the Yellow Jackets, his team 14-12 overall. BW picked up five more conference wins and six more wins overall than the previous season.
Look for Sheldon to give at least 10 players court time. BW likes to run with the basketball and will play aggressive man-to-man defense. In 2009-2010, BW averaged 75.4 points-per-game and allowed 74.7 ppg. for a plus 1.3 ppg. differential. BW grabbed 34.9 rebounds per game and allows 34.3 rpg. for a plus 0.6 rpg. differential. The Yellow Jackets shot 46.1 percent from the floor (694-of-1507 attempts), including 35.3 percent from three-point range (140-of-397), and 71.8 percent from the foul line (432-of-602).
"We will still be a relatively young basketball team again this season," said Sheldon, who was an Academic All-OAC player when BW won an OAC title and then led league rival Heidelberg University to an OAC title three years ago as its coach. "We are still going to have some growing pains, but I feel that we are more athletic than last season and have built strength and depth. Overall, we are looking forward to the season getting started."
Look for Sheldon to start 6'6" sophomore Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/ Walsh Jesuit) and 6'4" senior Kevin Gall (Middleburg Heights/ Midpark) at the forward positions. In the backcourt, look for 5'10" junior All-OAC point guard Promis Cabbil (Elyria/ Senior), 6'1" senior Zane Meeder (Erie, Pa./ Fairview) and 6'3", sophomore guard Brandon Schmidt (Wellington) to start.
Cabbil was second in scoring a year ago with 11.4 ppg. He also grabbed 2.6 rebounds per game and led the team and OAC with 123 assists and led the team with 46 steals. Meeder, who started all 26 games a year ago, averaged 10.5 ppg., 4.0 rpg., and shot 45.3 percent from the floor (86-of-190). Ameen was third in scoring at 9.8 ppg., grabbed a team-high 5.7 rpg. and had 13 blocked shots. Gall scored 5.9 ppg., grabbed 2.6 rpg. and shot 52% from the floor. Schmidt scored 5.6 ppg., grabbed 2.2 rpg. and 17 treys.
Off the bench, look for Sheldon to play 5'9" junior point guard Matt Triana (North East, Pa./ North East), junior 6'4" shooting guard/ small forward Scott Voiers (Westlake/ Luthern West), 6'3", sophomore forward Scott Branchick (Mentor), 6'5", sophomore forward Sean Rothermel (Delaware/ Hayes) and 6'2" sophomore transfer Ben Umbel (Poland/ Seminary). A year ago, Voiers scored 5.6 ppg., grabbed 1.6 rpg., and had 17 three's.
In addition, Sheldon will look to 5'11" senior guard Taylor Roth (Sandusky/ St. Mary's Central Catholic), 6'1" freshman guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland/ Senior), 6'4" freshman guard Kevin Krakowaik (Valley City/ Parma Hts. Holy Name), 6'6" freshman forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) and 6'9" freshman Aaron Selmek (Delaware/ Columbus St. Francis DeSales) to all battle for playing time with the nine returnees and Umbel.
The Yellow Jackets will open the season on November 8 when they travel to Cleveland to play NCAA Division I Cleveland State University in an exhibition game at the Wolstein Center at 7:00 p.m. The BW Alumni Office is planning a pregame Tailgate Party beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside the Wolstein Center.
BW opens its traditional regular season on Monday, Nov. 15 against Cleveland cross-town rival Case Western Reserve University in University Circle at 8:00 p.m. The first home game is on Thursday, Nov. 18 against Bethany (W. Va.) College and the first OAC game is at home on December 1 versus Heidelberg UNiversity at 7:30 p.m. In addition, the BW men will play at the ECAC Holiday Festival on January 3-4 in Kissimmee, Florida where they face Vassar (N.Y.) University on Jan. 3 at 12:00 noon and then play the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Jan. 4 at 12:00 noon.
FOR MORE BW 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 e-mail at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
