Posted: Dec 08, 2012
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) scored 13 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team fell short to Capital, 64-63, on a last second three point shot in the Capital Center.
With its loss, BW, picked by the OAC Coaches to place second, is 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the OAC. With its win, Capital, picked first in the OAC Coaches Preseason poll, is 5-4 overall and 3-0 in the OAC and won its third straight.
BW gained a 62-61 lead with 6.1 seconds left when junior All-OAC guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Holy Name) drove the lane and banked the ball off the board and into the net. Junior guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with four seconds left. He made one of two charity tosses for a 63-61 BW lead. That led to Sommer's heroics.
Senior forward Spencer Niekamp led Capital with 16 points and seven rebounds. In addition, senior guard Mitch Westerheide had 13 points ans Sommer had 11. BW was led by junior 2-time All-OAC forward Payne with 13 with points and Crowe had 12 and junior guard Justin Roth (Parma) had 10.
The Crusaders opened the scoring at 19:28 when Westerheide made a jumper in the lane. The lead grew to 3-0 before Krakowiak made a foul shot at 18:01 to make it 3-1.
The Capital lead grew to 7-1 at 14:51 before Roth made a three-pointer for the Jackets at 14:19 to cut the deficit to 7-4. BW outscored the Crusaders 6-2 to take its first lead at 10-9 when Roth canned his second trey at 11:11.
A 5-0 run gave Capital a 14-10 lead at 8:37 and it stayed four points until 2:25 when Niekamp made one of two foul shots for a 23-18 lead. It grew to six at 25-19 at 1:31 and was four at 25-21 with 1:05 left when BW junior center Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick) scored the final points of the first period.
BW made just 8-of-32 first half shots for 25 percent, including just 2-of-10 from three-point range (both by Roth) for 20%, and made just 3-of-10 foul shots for 30%. The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded, 29-20.
Capital made just 11-of-29 first half shots for 37.9%, including just 1-of-9 treys for 11 percent, and canned just 2-of-6 charity tosses for 33%. The Crusaders also hurt themselves by making eight turnovers compared to just two for BW.
Capital opened the second half on a 6-2 run to lead 31-25 at 17:32 when sophomore forward Andrew Bolka made two foul shots. BW came right back with an 8-0 run to lead 33-31 when Crowe made a three-pointer at 14:52.
Following six lead changes and two ties Capital took a 46-42 lead at 7:49 when Westerheide scored, was fouled but missed his free throw. The lead grew to eight at 52-44 when the Crusaders stole the ball and Niekamp completed the fast break with a layup at 5:18.
BW broke the drought when Crowe made a trey at 4:56 to make it 52-47. Four foul shots by BW's Payne cut the deficit to 54-51 with 3:48 left before a pair by Westerheide at 3:30 made it 56-51. When Payne scored a layup at 3:21 and Krakowiak followed his own miss with a layup at 2:38, it became a one-point game at 56-55.
Niekamp made it three at 58-55 with a layup at 2:14. Payne scored at 1:55, was fouled and tied it with a free throw at 58-58. BW took a 60-58 lead with 46 seconds left when Crowe made a jumper high off the glass, but Capital regained a 61-60 advantage when senior guard Tim Congrove made a triple with 34 ticks left.
The Crusaders won the game when senior guard Michael Sommer grabbed a losse ball near the Capital University bench and launched a desperation three-pointer while falling out of bounds.
The BW men are idle this week due to Fall Semester Final Exams and return to play on Saturday, December 15 when they travel to Wilmington, Ohio for an OAC game against Wilmington College in the Fred Razik Arena at 3:00 p.m.
Fans can watch most Yellow Jacket men's and women's basketball games live via webcast at http://www.bwyellowjackets.com as well as listen to almost all BW men's and women's games on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, and via the internet at www.bwyellowjackets.com.
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.
