BEREA, OHIO – Sophomore forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) scored 16 points to lead the Yellow Jackets as the Marietta College men's basketball team defeated Baldwin-Wallace College, 74-51, today (Saturday, January 21, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Ban Johnson Arena.  This was the first game of the second half of the OAC regular season schedule for each team.

With its win, Marietta improved to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the OAC. With its loss, B-W fell to 10-7 overall and 5-5 in the OAC.

In addition to Payne, sophomore guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) had 14 points and junior forward Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/Walsh Jesuit) had 13 points.

For Marietta senior forward Kevin Knab scored a game high 25 points to lead the Pioneers, and sophomore guard Tyler Hammond also scored in double digets with 14 points.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the 19:36 mark when junior forward Jason Humphrey scored on a layup. B-W came right back with an 11-0 run to take an 11-2 lead at the 17:31 mark when Krakowiak made a three-pointer. After a basket by Marierta's Knab, B-W's Payne canned a triple to increase the lead to 10 points at 14-4 with 17:00 left.

Marietta outscored B-W 8-2 to close to 16-12 at the 13:39 mark when Knab made a jumper. An offensive rebound and a basket by B-W's Ameen made it 18-12. A 6-2 Yellow Jacket run pushed the lead back to double digits at 24-14 with 7:46 left, but Knab ended the run for the Pioneers with a foul shot at 7:28 to make it 24-15.

An Ameen jumper at 7:10 gave B-W its largest lead of 11 at 26-15 and layip by junior guard Ben Umbel (Poland/ Seminary) kept it 11 at 28-17 with 7:37 left. Undaunted, MC's Hammond canned a trey at 6:17, Knab a jumper at 4:53 and two foul shots by junior guard Tyler Worstell at 2:10 closed the gap to 28-24. A deep jumper by Krakowiak at 1:47 ended the run and gave B-W a 30-24 advantage.

Marietta closed to 30-27 when junior guard Brian Crader made a triple at 1:26 but Krakowiak countered for B-W with a triple of his own at 1:00 to make it 33-27.  A Knab layup with 37 seconds left was the last scoring of the first stanza as the Yellow Jackets went into the locker room with a 33-29 lead.

In the second half, Payne made a layup at 19:32 to extend the lead to 35-29, but Marietta went on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 18:00 left when Hammond hit a jumper. The Pioneers grabbed the lead and increased it to six points at 41-35 as they finished a 12-0 run when Kanb scored on a layup at 15:44. Payne ended the run with a foul shot at 15:22 to make it 41-36.

Hammond gave Marietta increased its lead to eight at 44-36 with a three-pointer at 15:06 and a jumper by senior forward Connor Kilpatrick at 13:09 kept it at eight at 48-40.  Worstell extended the lead to nine points at 49-40 when he canned one of two foul shots at 11:33.  Payne drew B-W to 49-42 with a jumper at 9:37, but Humphrey made two free throws at 9:17 to make it 51-42 and Knab grabbed a rebound and scotred at 8:08 to push the advantange to double digits at 53-42.

Following two missed foul shots by B-W, Knab extended the lead to 13 at 55-42 with a layup at 7:15, but Payne ended the run when he made two foul shots at 7:06 to make it 55-44.  Again Knab gaave Marietta a 13-point bulge at 57-44 with a layup at 6:53 but Ameen made it a 10-point game at 57-47 with a three-pointer at 6:43. Two foul shots at 6:10 and a layup by MC senior guard Joe Puch at 5:24 made it 61-47.

The closest B-W would get after that point was 65-51 with 3:08 left in the game when Krakowiak hit a jumper.

The Yellow Jackets next play on Wednesday, January 25 when they host the Student Princes of Heidelberg University in an OAC contest in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.  Fans can listen live on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM "The Sting", or via the internet at www.wbwc.com.  The pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tipoff.  

Media and fans are reminded that the B-W will televise two men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on regional cable network SportsTime Ohio. The games are the January 28 doubleheader versus Wilmington and the February 18 twinbill versus Ohio Northern University. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.

FOR MORE B-W 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 B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.