BEREA, OHIO –Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) scored 21 points as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team defeated Olivet (Mich.) College, 94-79, in a non-league game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
With its win, BW is 5-4 overall and has won two straight games. With its loss, Olivet is 4-6 overall and has dropped two straight games.
In addition to Krakowiak for BW, junior two-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) and junior guard Justin Roth (Parma) each had 19 points, and junior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) had 12 markers. Olivet was led by sophomore guard Blake Krum had a game-high 24 points and senior center Matt El had 11 points.
For the game, BW made 32-of-53 field goal attempts for 60.4 percent, including 14-of-23 three pointers, and 16-of-20 free throws. The Yellow Jackets also out rebounded the Comets, 36-31. Roth had five three-pointers and Krakowiak and Fairhurst four each.
Olivet got off to an early, 1-0 lead at the 19:45 mark when El made one of two free throws. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Comets 11-4 to take an 11-5 lead at the 16:54 mark when Payne made a layup.
The lead grew to 27-9 at the 12:02 mark when BW outscored Olivet 16-4, including a 13-0 run. During the run, Krakowiak had five points. The Yellow Jackets increased their advantage to 22 points at the score of 33-11 at 8:56 mark when Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick) made a layup.
BW led 41-13 with 5:43 left when junior forward Ferrell made a layup, but all of that responded by a 9-2 run, all on three-pointers, to close the gap to 43-22 with 4:27 left when senior center Garner Small made a triple. BW ended the half by outscoring the Comets 12-9, on the strength of 10 points by Payne, to lead 55-31 at the intermission.
Fueling the first half Yellow Jacket flurry was a 22-of-31 shooting performance for 71 percent, including 6-of-10 from three point range. BW also out-rebounded the Comets, 21-13.
Olivet began the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 55-37 when Krum made two free throws. Payne ended the run when he made two of his own at the 18:01 mark for a 57-37 advantage. A 5-0 Olivet run, cut the lead to 57-42 at the 16:35 mark, but a Krakowiak trey pushed the lead back to 60-42 with 16:13 left.
Olivet continued to chip away at the lead and closed to 61-49 with 13:55 left when Krum made a layup, but a Roth triple gave BW a 15-point lead. Twice the Comets got within 11 points, on the last 65-54 with 11:35 left when Krum made a jump shot. BW responded with a 13-6 run, including two three-pointers by Fairhurst to make it 78-60 with 8:43 left.
The closest that Olivet would get after that point was 14 points at 87-73 with 3:02 left.
BW is back in action on Thursday, December 20 when it hosts Ohio Athletic Conference rival the University of Mount Union in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.
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.
Photo courtesy of Mark Selmek
