ADA, OHIO – Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team was defeated by OAC rival Ohio Northern University, 63-47, tonight in the ONU Sports Center.
With the loss, BW falls to 13-5 overall and 8-3 in the OAC. With its victory, ONU improved to 8-10 overall and 4-7 in the OAC and swept the season series from BW
BW was led by senior two-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) with a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds. In addition, junior All-OAC guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Parma Heights Holy Name) had 10. With his 17 points today, Payne now has 1,050 career points and stayed in 32nd place on the all-time scoring list. Next up for Payne are Bob Harringer (1965-69) and Joe Rinkes (1987-91), who each had 1,057 points; Kenn Kaminski (1987-91), who had 1,059 points; Ryan Sooy (1993-97), who had 1,072 points; Brian Newland(1987-91), who had 1,074 points.
ONU was led by junior forward Dominque Royal who scored 14 points to lead the Polar Bears to victory. In addition to Royal for ONU, junior guard Jared Horstman had 12 points and junior guard Branden Rushton had 10 points. Senior guard Taylor Kuhlman had a game-high nine rebounds. The key to the Polar Bear win was holding BW to 4-of-23 shooting from three-point range (17.4 percent) and canning 22-of-its first 40 shots for 55%.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an early, 4-0 lead at the 17:27 mark when Payne made a short jumper in the lane. ONU came back with a 7-2 run to take a 7-6 lead at 14:52 when Royal made a layup.
After BW took an 8-7 lead on two Krakowiak free throws at 14:24, ONU went on a 14-5 run to take a 21-13 lead at 8:23 when sophomore guard Isaiah Roux made a layup off a fastbreak that was started by creating a BW turnover. BW cut the lead to 23-17 at 6:55 when Krakowiak made a jumper, but ONU rattled off 12 straight points to take a commanding 35-17 advantage at 3:21 when Kuhlman made two free throws.
ONU also led at halftime, 39-23.
ONU scored the first seven points of the second stanza to increase its lead to 46-23 at 18:25 when Royal made a layup. Three times the Jackets cut the ONU lead to 19 with the last at 48-29 with 13:25 left when sophomore point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) made a jumper.
After ONU extended its lead to 23 again at 52-29 with 12:27 remaining, BW outscored the Polar Bears 15-5 to cut the lead to 57-44 with 3:16 left when Crowe made one of two foul shots. BW had a chance to cut it to 11 with 2:12 left but Krakowiak, the OAC's leading free throw shooter coming into the game, missed both. It was indicative of BW's entire night in Ada!
ONU then made six-of-eight foul shots to seal the victory.
The Yellow Jacket men are back in action this Saturday, January 26 when they host OAC-rival Otterbein University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3:00 p.m.
On Saturday, February 2, BW will host the 34th Annual Al Sirat Grotto Basketball Game when it hosts OAC foe Wilmington College at 3:00 p.m. Partial gate proceeds from that game go to benefit the Grotto's philanthropy of assisting young people afflicted with cerebral palsy. For more information, please call Grotto Chairman David Finley at 216-574-4814.
On Saturday, February 16, the BW women and men host OAC-rival Muskingum University in a doubleheader in Berea. The twinbill will be taped by S&S Video Productions and televised by regional cable TV network SportsTime Ohio. The women's game will air on Saturday night at 11:00 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17 at 4:00 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 18 at 5:00 a.m. The men's game will air on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and Monday at 7:00 a.m. BW has televised more of its athletics events on regional cable television than any other small college in the country.
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 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.
