ADA, OHIO – Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) and junior guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) each scored 16 points as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team won its third straight game at it defeated Ohio Northern University, 72-68, in the OAC opener for each team in the ONU Sports Center.
BW (4-1 overall, 1-0 OAC) was picked by the OAC coaches to win the 2013-2014 OAC title. In addition to Krakowiak and Crowe, senior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) came off the bench to score 13 points. Krakowiak led all rebounders with eight and Crowe had a game-high six assists. ONU (2-3 overall and 0-1 in the OAC) was led by senior guard Brandon Rushton's game-high 18 points. The Polar Bears have lost three straight.
In addition, BW senior 3-time All-OAC forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had eight points and now has 1,239 career points to rank 17th all-time. He is now 24 points shy of catching Leonard Roth (1953-57) for 16th on the BW all-time scoring list.
The Yellow Jackets grabbed a 3-0 lead when Crowe, last week's OAC Player of the Week, made a three-pointer at 19:35. BW led 5-0 on a Krakowiak jumper at 18:30 before junior guard Jordan Martin got ONU on the scoreboard with a jumper of his own at 18:25 to cut the deficit to 5-2. The lead grew to 7-2 when Payne made a layup at 18:10.
The Polar Bears scored four straight points to make it a 7-6 game at 16:09 when Rushton made a jumper. After the teams traded baskets on three occasions, BW grabbed a 15-10 lead at 12:16 when Crowe made a layup and a 17-10 advantage when freshman guard Zack Brandy (Hudson) made a layup.
ONU came right back with five straight points on senior forward Dominique Royal jumper at 10:57 and a Martin trey at 10:33 to make it 17-15. After the teams traded baskets, BW got a three-pointer from Fairhurst at 9:16 and a layup by freshman Jaelen Holinger (Akron/Hoban) at 8:41 to build its largest lead at 24-17.
Rushton nailed a triple to made it a 24-20 contest at 8:33 and he made a layup at 6:50 to close the gap to 24-22. BW then went on a 10-3 run to take a commanding, 34-25 lead at 4:25 when Fairhurst knocked down another trey. After the teams traded hoops, Royal cut the BW lead to seven points at 36-29 when he scored one second before halftime.
ONU opened the second half with two straight baskets by Royal to cut the lead to 36-33 at 19:07 before Krakowiak answered for the Jackets with a three-pointer at 18:42 for a 39-33 lead. Junior forward Lucas Pennington put ONU within three at 39-36 when he canned a trey at 17:06.
Undaunted, BW received a triple of its own from Crowe at 16:40 and a layup by Payne at 16:10 to make the score 44-36. Rushton came right back with a triple at 15:35 to close the gap to 44-39. Krakowiak canned a triple of his own at 14:54 to rebuild the lead to eight at 47-39 and force a Polar Bear timeout.
After an ONU basket cut the lead to six, senior backup center Aaron Selmek (Delaware/ Columbus St. Francis Desales) made one of two foul shots at 11:51 and a layup at 11:08 to restore BW's largest lead of the game at nine at 52-43 with 11:08 left. A layup by Fairhurst at 10:35 followed an ONU basket to keep the lead at nine.
The Bears scored seven straight points to cut the lead to close to 54-52 with 9:17 left when freshman forward Alex Radkiewicz made a layup, was fouled and made the free throw. BW got a jumper and foul shot from Fairhurst for a three-point play at 9:02 to make it 57-52 and junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla/ Nature Coast Techical) added one of two foul shots at 8:41 to make it 58-52. An ONU foul shot made it 58-53.
Senior forward Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick) made the lead eight at 60-52 with a layup at 7:23, but ONU came back with five straight points to close the gap to 60-57 with 6:48 left when Martin made a layup. Crowe made one of two charity tosses at 6:39 to five the Yellow Jackets a 61-57 advantage.
Royal made it a 2-point game at 61-59 with 6:21 left when he made a layup. A pair of foul shots by Krakowiak at 5:12 made the score 63-59. Again ONU came back to score but Crowe followed with a layup for BW at 4:33 to make it 65-61.
Rushton made it a one-point game at 64-63 with a triple at 4:16 but Payne made it three at 67-64 with a jumper at 3:58. An old-fashioned three-point play by Dennis at 3:25 gave BW a 70-64 lead. Royal made it 70-66 with two foul shots at 3:03.
ONU got a steal and a basket by Royal on a fastbreak at 1:30 to close the gap to 70-68. After a BW missed triple, ONU had a chance to tie but junior guard Isiaah Roux missed a layup. After a timeout, Krakowiak iced the game for BW with a jumper with 13 seconds left for the final points of the game.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 7 when they host their OAC opener versus Capital University at 3:00 p.m. in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.
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<http://twitter.com/bwathletics> .
