BEREA, OHIO – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) scored 25 points and made five three-pointers as the Baldwin Wallace University's men's basketball team defeated OAC rival Muskingum University, 89-58, today in the second game of a SportsTime Ohio doubleheader in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
Today's game was 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.
With the win, the Yellow Jackets end their season at 19-6 overall and 14-4 in the OAC and won 16 of their last 18 games, including two straight. The 19 victories is the most since the 2005-2006 squad had 25 and a 25-5 record en route to an NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance. The loss ends the Fighting Muskies season at 1-24 overall and 0-18 in the OAC. The win also was BW's four straight against Muskingum and closed its gap in the all-time series to 53-46.
With his four points today, junior two-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) ended this season with 1,152 career points and moved into a tie for 19th place with the legendary Dick Selgo (1947-50), who had 1,152 points.
In addition to Krakowiak for BW, sophomore point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) had a career-high-tying 19 points and a career-high 10 assists with no turnovers for his first career double-double, and senior Academic All-OAC forward Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/ Walsh Jesuit) had 11 points. Muskingum was led by junior guard Dave Brown with 13 points.
The Fighting Muskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the mark when Brown made a jumper. The Yellow Jackers went ahead, 3-2, on a Krakowiak three-pointer at 17:47 and established a 9-5 lead at 13:56 when Payne made two foul shots.
The BW lead grew to 16-7 when Krakowiak canned a triple at 12:36 and then made a layup to end a fast break at 12:11. Muskingum closed to five points on three separate occasions with the last at 22-17 with 9:29 when Brown made two foul shots.
Undaunted, BW scored nine straight points to build a 31-17 lead at 6:33 when Krakowiak canned a jumper. The Jackets continued their assault on Muskingum and outscored them 9-2 to lead by 21 at 40-19 with 2:29 left in the first period when Crowe nailed a long three-pointer. BW doubled Muskingum at 44-22 with 51.6 seconds left when Crowe made two foul shots, and led 47-22 at the intermission.
In the second half, senior Academic All-OAC guard Ben Umbel (Poland/ Seminary) gave BW a 49-22 lead with a driving layup. After another 16-8 Yellow Jacket run gave BW a 65-30 lead at 14:13 when junior sharp-shooting guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) made a three-pointer.
The lead grew to a high of 38 points on two separate occasions with the last at 87-49 with 4:15 left when Fairhurst made a layup to end a fast break.
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.
