NEW CONCORD, Ohio – Senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Holy Name) had a game-high 15 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost its regular season finale, 70-63 at rival Muskingum University in the John Glenn Gymnasium in the Muskingum HPER Center.

 

With their loss, the Yellow Jackets end the regular season at 13-12 overall and 9-9 in OAC games and finish in a three-way tie for fifth.  Due to the tiebreaker, BW will open OAC Tournament play this Monday, February 24 at home as the number sixth seed and will host Capital University at 7:30 p.m.

 

In addition to Krakowiak, BW also received 13 points from senior forward Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick).

 

In addition, senior three-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had just five points (see more later in the story) and now has 1,541 career points and stands 10th on the Yellow Jacket all-time scoring list. With his 15 markers, Krakowiak now has 1,339 career points and stands 16th all-time. Muskingum, which needs help to qualify for the OAC tourney, is 8-17 overall and 3-15 in the OAC, was led by sophomore center Cody Seiler and junior guard Logan Kimble who each came off the bench to score 13 points.

 

In the first half, the Yellow Jackets grabbed a 3-0 lead at 19:21 when junior point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) made a three-pointer. The game was tied at 6-6 and 11-11 before the Fighting Muskies went on a 9-0 run to lead 20-11 at 10:13 when Brown made a jump shot.

 

The Muskingum lead grew to double digits at 24-14 at 7:23 when Seiler made the second of two straight jumpers.  BW came back with a 9-0 run to make it 24-23 at 5:07 when Payne scored and was fouled but missed his free throw. Unfortunately for BW, Payne was injured on the play and would miss the rest of the game due to the injury.

 

The Yellow Jackets tied it at 26-26 at 4:17 when senior forward Skyler Simpson (Centerburg) made his second triple of the half. But the Muskies closed the half on a 6-5 advantage to lead 32-31 at the intermission.

 

In the second half, BW gained a 33-32 lead at 19:49 when Krakowiak made a layup. The Muskies then outscored BW 17-6 to regain its largest lead of the game of 10 points at 49-39 at 12:26 when sophomore guard Christian Keller made two foul shots.

 

The lead grew to 11 at 55-44 at 9:05 when senior All-OAC guard Dave Brown made both ends of a one-and-one. The Yellow Jackets then cut the deficit to 58-55 at 5:29 with an 11-3 run that was capped when Ferrell grabbed an offensive rebound and scored.

 

BW finally tied the game at 63-63 at 1:50 when Krakowiak hit back-to-back triples, but the Muskies scored six straight points to earn the win.

 

The Yellow Jackets open 2014 OAC Tournament play on Monday, Feb. 24 when they host Capital University at 7:30 p.m.. The second round is Tuesday, Feb. 25, the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 27 and the OAC Championship Game on Saturday, March 1. You can view the entire OAC Tournamet bracket on the OAC website on Sunday, Feb. 23 at www.oac.org.

 

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.