BEREA, Ohio – Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) hit a game-winning three-pointer with 27 seconds left in regulation as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team defeated Capital University, 59-58, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.
BW (5-1, 2-0 OAC), who has won three straight games, was led by senior All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) came off the bench to score 11 points. Krakowiak contributed eight points, including scoring his 1,000th career point on his third point of the game. Capital (3-3, 1-1 OAC) was led by sophomore guard AJ Dixon with a game-high 20 points.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the Crusaders came up short on their first three possessions. Junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla. /Nature Coast Technical) andPayne each converted on a layup to give BW the lead with 18:01 remaining in the first period. Capital responded with a 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead on three-pointer by Dixon at 14:28.
BW answered back with a 6-0 run of its own to take a 10-9 lead on the triple from senior forward Skyler Simpson (Centerburg) with 13:48 left. After the Crusaders cut the lead down to two points at 20-18, the Yellow Jackets would go on an 11-0 run to take a 13-point lead at 31-18 on a trey byFairhurst at the 3:16 mark.
Capital would outscore BW 13-3 over the remainder of the half as Ocke buried a triple with three second remaining to trail 34-11 at halftime.
After a three-pointer by Krakowiak to open the second half, the Crusaders would answer with a 4-0 run to cut the lead down to two points at 37-35 on a trey from Blake with 16:16 remaining. The Yellow Jackets pushed the lead back to five points at 40-35 when senior forward Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick) knocked down a three-pointer at the 15:09 mark.
Capital responded with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 41-40 on at traditional three-point play by Dixon with 11:22 remaining. BW quickly responded with a triple from freshman guard Zack Brandy (Hudson) to go back up 43-41 just 20 seconds later. The Crusaders would outscore the Jackets 4-1 over the next two minutes to take a 45-44 lead as junior forward Andrew Bolka split a pair of free throws at the 9:22 mark.
After the game was tied at 48, Capital would go on a 5-0 run to take a five point lead at 53-48 on a pair of free throws from junior guard Mike Augustine with 5:50 remaining. BW would regain the lead at 56-55 as Payne would convert the three-point play at 2:15.
The Crusaders would answer back with a 3-0 run to take a 58-56 lead on a layup by Augustine with 1:02 remaining. The Yellow Jackets refused to go away as Krakowiak buried the game-winning three-pointer with 27 seconds left in regulation to give BW the 59-58.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action next Saturday, December 14 when it hosts Wilmington College in an OAC game in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 3:00 p.m. Fans can follow all of the action via live stats at http://livestats.prestosports.com/baldwinwallace/ or watch all of the action via live video athttp://www.bwyellowjackets.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/videos/wilmington.
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 Couretsy of Mark Selmek
