BEREA, Ohio –The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team split its season series with Ohio Northern University as it fell to the Polar Bear, 89-77, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. 

 

BW (9-9, 5-6 OAC) was led by senior three-time All-OAC power forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) with 17 points.  Junior point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) tallied 15 and senior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) contributed 12.   Ohio Northern (10-8, 6-5 OAC) was led by senior guard Branden Rushton with a game-high 24 points followed by senior forward Dominique Royal with and junior guard Isaiah Roux added 13.

 

The Polar Bears opened the game on a 4-0 run when Rushton knocked down a jumper with 19:14 left.  The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 8-7 when junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) converted a pair from the charity stripe at the 17:28 mark.

 

After BW cut the lead down to 11-10, Ohio Northern responded with a 6-0 run to push its lead to 17-10 on a jumper by Royal with 14:52 remaining.  Over the next four minutes,  the Yellow Jackets would outscore the Polar Bears 8-6 to cut the lead down to 23-18 on pair of free throws by freshman forward Jaelen Hollinger (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) at the 10:25 mark.

 

BW answered with an 11-5 run to cut the lead down to 28-27 on a three-pointer by Krakowiak with 6:13 left to play.  The Yellow Jackets knotted the game at 34-34 when senior forward Skyler Simpson (Centerburg) buried a trey at the 4:00 mark.  BW took its first lead of the game at 37-36 when Fairhurst hit a deep three-pointer with 2:37 left. The Yellow Jackets closed out the half outscoring Ohio Northern 5-2 to take a 42-38 lead into the intermission.

 

The Polar Bears opened the second half on a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 45-42 when Rushton scored on a fast break layup with 18:04 remaining.  BW answered back with a 5-0 run of its own to take a 47-45 lead on a triple by Fairhurst at 15:41.  

 

The game would be tied on six occasions over the next eight minutes with the last coming at 61-61 when freshman Zack Brandy (Hudson) hit a jumper with 7:54 remaining.  Ohio Northern used a 12-3 run to take a 73-64 lead on a layup by Royal, who missed the foul shot, at the 4:23 mark.

 

The Polar Bears would outscore the Yellow Jackets 16-13 over the remainder of the game to secure the victory.

 

BW is back in action on Saturday, February 1 when the Yellow Jackets travel to Westerville to play Otterbein University in the Rike Center at 7:30 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.