BEREA, OHIO – Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) scored 14 points but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team dropped its OAC opener, 60-59, in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.

With its loss, BW is 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the OAC and and next play on Saturday, December 8 in the first game of a men's and women's doubleheader at OAC-rival Capital University in the Capital Center at 2:00 p.m. The BW and Capital women play the nightcap at 4:00 p.m. With its win, the Polar Bears are 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the OAC.

In addition to Krakowiak for BW, . sophomore guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) had 11 points and junior two-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had 10.  Ohio Northern was led by junior guard Jared Horstman scored a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds and senior guard Taylor Kuhlman had 13 points

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the 19:40 mark when Payne made a pair of foul shots. The Polar Bears went on an 8-0 run to take an 8-2 lead at 16:36 when Kuhlman made a layup. The ONU lead grew to a high of 12 points at 18-6 at the 12:58 mark when Kuhlman made a steal and went the length of the court to make a layup.

 junior guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) had 11 points and junior two-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had 10. BW went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to five points at 20-15 with 7:07 left in the half when Krakowiak made a three-pointer. The lead went between seven and five points the remainder of the first session with ONU leading 26-21 at halftime.

BW opened the second half by cutting the lead to three points at 26-23 at the 19:32 mark when Krakowiak made a jumper. ONU responded with a 9-2 run to build a 10-point advantage at 35-25 when sophomore forward Lucas Pennington canned a three-pointer. The Yellow Jackets came right back with an 8-0 run as junior center Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick) made a layup and Crowe canned back-to-back triples with the last at 15:38 to close to 35-33.

The Polar Bears went on a 6-1 run to lead 41-34 at 13:41 when junior guard Branden Rushton made a layup. The run ended when junior guard Justin Roth (Parma/ Senior) made a layup at 12:17 and then connected on a pair of foul shots at 10:46 to make it a three-point game at 41-38. BW continued to press the Bears and finally took its first lead since it was 2-0 when Payne made two foul shots at 8:53 for a 44-43 advantage.

After ONU took a 49-45 lead with a 4-0 run, BW junior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland/ Senior) made it 49-48 with a three-pointer at 6:11.  ONU built a six-point lead at 60-54 with 2:56 left when junior forward Dominique Rotal made two foul shots. BW cut that lead to 60-57 when Crowe canned a deep triple at 1:51. Roth then made a layup at 1:02 to make it a one-point game at 60-59.

BW had one last chance to win the game, but a three-pointer at the final buzzer was off the mark.

Following its game at Capital, BW is idle for a week while its student-athletes study and take Fall Semester final exams. The Yellow Jackets then travel to Wilmington, Ohio to play OAC-foe Wilmington College on Saturday, December 15 in the Fred Razik Arena at 3:00 p.m.

Fans can watch Yellow Jacket men's and women's basketball home games live via webcast at http://www.bwyellowjackets.comas well as listen to all BW 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.eduor 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.