BEREA, Ohio -- Four Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball players scored in double figures as they defeated Ohio Athletic Conference and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 79-75, in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium on "Swarm the Gym" Night.
The Yellow Jackets (12-10 overall, 8-7 OAC) were led by senior three-time All-OAC power forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) and junior point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) each with 16 points. Payne, who now has 1,498 points, also grabbed six rebounds while Crowe dished out a game-high six assists. Senior All-OAC Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name), who now has 1,296 career points, tallied 14 points and grabbed a team and career-high tying nine rebounds. Junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) contributed 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
John Carroll (14-8, 8-7 OAC) was led by sophomore guard Joey Vuyancih with a game-high 19 points. Junior guard David Hendrickson contributed 12. Sophomore forward Simon Kucharewicz tallied a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
After the game was tied at 5-5, the Blue Streaks then went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 run when freshman guard David Linane knocked down a three-pointer at the 15:59 mark. The Yellow Jackets answered back with a 6-2 run to cut the lead down to 14-11 on pair of free throws by freshman guard Jaelen Hollinger (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) at the 11:00 mark.
John Carroll responded with a 6-2 run of its own to push the lead back to 20-11 on a three Vuyancih with 9:22 left to play. BW would outscore the Blue Streaks 18-10 over the next eight minutes to cut the lead down to 30-27 on a pair of free throws by Payne at 1:22. John Carroll closed out the half on a 5-3 run to lead 35-30 at the intermission.
The Yellow Jackets opened the second half on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 37-37 on a pair from the charity stripe for Payne with 17:37 remaining. The Blue Streaks responded with a 4-0 run to take a 41-37 lead on a dunk by Kucharewicz at the 15:55 mark.
BW answered back with an 11-8 run to cut the lead down to one at 49-48 on a jumper by Crowe with 13:21 left to play. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to one again at 55-54 on a pair of free throws by freshman guard Brandon Gleim (Hilliard/Davidson) at the 9:55 mark.
After the game was tied at 59-59 with 8:19 remaining, BW went on 15-1 run to take a 75-60 on triple by Crowe at the 3:21 mark. John Carroll outscored the Jackets 15-4 down the stretch and had to tie the game at 78 with six seconds left but the three-pointer came up short and BW escaped with the 79-75 victory.
The Yellow Jackets end the regular season home schedule on Saturday, Feb. 15 when they hosts OAC-rival Marietta College on Parents' & Seniors' Day at 3 p.m. It also will be the Al Sirat Grotto Day with partial gate proceeds going to fight cerebral palsy and the annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day.
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.
