BETHANY, W. Va. – Two Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball players scored in double figures but it was not enough as the Yellow Jackets fell to Bethany (W. Va.) College, 60-58, in a non-conference game in the in the Hummel Field House. This was the final game before the Christmas Holiday.
BW (5-4), who dropped its third straight game, was led by senior guards Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) and Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) with 18 points each. Junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) scored seven points and grabbed a team-high tying six rebounds along with senior forward Tyler Ferrell (Brunswick).
Bethany (9-0) was led junior guard Delonte' Joyce with a game-high 20 points and senior guard Lawrence Weldon with 11 points. Senior forward Kevin Jackson grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
In the first half, the Bisons jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a pair of jumpers by Joyce. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead on baskets from Dennis and junior point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) and triple from three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference power forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) at 15:34.
Bethany went on a 20-3 run to take a 24-12 lead on an offensive rebound and tip-in by sophomore forward Ramel Young at 8:27. BW would cut the lead down to eight points at 33-25 on layup by Payne at the 3:16 mark. The Bisons would close out the first half on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to a first-half high 15 points on a layup by Joyce at seven second to lead 42-27 at the intermission.
Bethany pushed its lead to 17 points at 46-29 on a layup by Joyce with 16:53 remaining. The Yellow Jackets would go on a 12-0 run to cut the lead down to five points at 46-41 on a layup by Krakowiak at the 11:40 mark.
The Yellow Jackets would outscore the Bisons 15-9 over the next eight minutes to tie the game at 55-55 on a triple by Fairhurst with 2:57 remaining.
Bethany responded with a 4-0 run to regain the lead at 59-55 on a layup by senior forward Leslie Addy at the 1:25 mark. BW cut the lead down to one point at 59-58 on the sixth three-pointer of the game from Fairhurst with 58 seconds left in regulation. The Bisons added one free throw by Addy with three seconds to play and Addy stole the ball to end the game at 60-58.
The Yellow Jackets return to action after the Christmas break when they travel to San Antonio Texas to compete in the Trinity (Texas) University Christmas Classic on December 29 and 30. BW first plays Southwestern (Texas) University on the December 29 at 5:00 p.m. then closes out the tournament on December 30 against Schreiner (Texas) University at 3:00 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 Couretsy of Mark Selmek
