MARIETTA, OHIO – Despite a career-high 29 points from junior guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor), the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost at Ohio Athletic Conference rival and 19th-ranked Marietta College, 97-86, in an OAC game in the Ban Johnson Arena.
With its loss, BW is 7-6 overall and 3-3 in the OAC. Marietta is 10-3 overall and 5-1 in the OAC.
In addition to Crowe for the Yellow Jackets, senior two-time All-OAC guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) had 23 points and senior three-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had 22. With his 23 points, Krakowiak has 1,142 career points to stand 21st all-time. With his 22 points, Payne now has 1,367 career points to stand in 14th place all-time. Marietta was led by junior guard Andy Dollman with 24 points.
One of the keys to the BW loss was making just 25 of 41 foul shots for 61 percent shooting compared to 28 of 34 for Marietta for 84.2 points.
In the first half, there were six lead changes before BW grabbed an 8-7 advantage at 17:07 when Krakowiak made a three-pointer. The Pioneers outscored the Yellow Jackets 20-10 to take their second nine-point lead of the half at 27-18 at 11:08 when junior guard Brendan McKean made a jump shot.
BW fought back with a 19-10 run of its own to tie the game first at 37-37 when Payne made a layup, was fouled and made the free throw to complete a three-point play at 6:08, and again at 39-39 with 5:15 left before the intermission when Crowe made a jumper. The Jackets also led twice in the first stanza with the last at 44-43 at 3:41 when Payne made a layup. Marietta ended the half on a 10-5 run to take a 53-39 lead into its lockerroom at halftime.
Crowe (18), Krakowiak (13) amd Payne (12) accounted for 43 of BW's 49 first half points.
In the second half, the Pioneers scored the first four points to lead 57-49 at 19:03 when junior forward Andy Stegman made a layup. The Pioneers continued their assault and built a 13-point lead at 76-63 at 10:58 when Garcia canned three foul shots.
BW outscored the Pioneers 12-6 to close to seven at 82-75 with 5:43 left when junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) made one of two foul shots. But that was as close as the Yellow Jackets would get to Marietta.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, January 15 when they travel to University Heights to play OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center at 7 p.m. The next home game is on Saturday, January 18 versus Muskingum University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3 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.
