OLIVET, Mich. -- Junior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) scored a game-high 26 points and had a career-high nine rebounds as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team defeated Olivet (Mich.) College, 101-89,on Hathaway Court in the Cutler Athletic Center. The win was BW's second straight.
The Comets gained a 2-0 lead at 19:22 when junior guard Jordan Union, who had 17 points, made a layup. BW countered and gained a 3-2 lead on a three-pointer by Crowe at 18:50. Olivet went on a 9-3 run to take a 12-6 advantage at 16:56 when Union drove the lane and scored. Undaunted, BW came right back with a 9-2 run to retake the lead at 15-14 when Krakowiak made a three-pointer.
After the game was tied three times with the last at 24-24 when Crowe made a pair of foul shots with 10:31 left before the intermission, the Comets scored six straight points to lead 30-24 with 9:34 left when freshman forward Eric Ewing made a layup. The lead grew as high as 12 points at 45-33 when freshman guard Tommy Cerven made a pair of free throws with 3:38 left. Cerven, who came into the game averaging 1.5 points-per-game, scored a career-high 18.
But BW again closed the gap with a 12-4 run to get within 49-46 with 37 seconds left when Payne made a layup. A triple by freshman guard Kevin Woodson as time expired in the first half gave Olivet a 52-46 lead.
The 52 points in the first half almost matched Olivet's 53.8 team scoring average through its first four games. The Comets shot 51.4 percent during the first session and forced nine BW turnovers. Union and Cerven led the way with 14 and 10 points, respectively, in the first stanza. BW was led by Payne's 17 markers.
Early in the second half, the Yellow Jackets chipped away at the Comet lead and finally tied the game at 56-56 with 16:45 left when freshman guard Zack Brandy (Hudson) made two foul shots, and BW took a 58-56 lead on a Crowe layup at 16:04 which forced an Olivet timeout. The BW lead was short-lived as a Cerven trey gave Olivet a 59-58 lead with 15:50 left, and a jumper by Vondette gave the Comets a 61-58 lead at 15:15.
BW tied it again at 61-61 with 15:02 left when Krakowiak nailed a three-pointer and after a Ferrell layup and a triple by Crowe at 13:50, the Jackets had a run of eight straight points to take a 66-61 lead. Olivet came right back with four straight points to make it 66-65 with 13:20 left when Vondette canned a trey. BW gained a 68-65 lead at 12:52 when Payne made a layup and led 70-67 with 11:02 remaining on two foul shots by junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hills, Fla./Nature Coast Technical).
The Yellow Jackets built their lead to six points at 73-67 with 9:32 left when Krakowiak canned a trey, but Cerven came right back with a triple for Olivet at 9:22 to make it 73-70. Another 7-1 run gave BW its largest lead at nine points at 80-71 when freshman forward Jaelen Hollinger (Akron/ Archbishop Hoban) made two foul shots for his first career points. Again Olivet came right back with five points to close the gap to 80-76 with 7:10 left when Vondette made a three-pointer.
BW regained an eight point lead at 84-76 when Krakowiak made a layup at 6:10 and Ferrell tipped in a missed shot at 5:47. A foul shot by the Comets at 5:34 drew them within 82-77. Olivet then made two of four foul shots and BW one of two and it was an 85-78 game at 4:35 when senior guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) made the foul shot for BW.
When Crowe made two foul shots at 3:02, BW led 87-79, but Rogers closed the gap back to 87-81 with two charity tosses at 2:47. Crowe made one of two at the line at 2:20 and Union matched him at 2:13 for an 88-82 score. When Krakowiak made a layup, was fouled and made his free throw, the Yellow Jackets again had their largest lead of the game at 91-82 with 1:58 left.
Vondette made two foul shots at 1:49 to close the gap to 91-84, but a Payne layup at 1:18 and a foul shot by Crowe pushed the lead to double digits at 94-84 with 1:00 left and Krakowiak gave BW a 12-point bulge at 96-84 with 48 seconds remaining. Rogers made two foul shots at 44 seconds to make it 96-86, but Krakowiak made two for BW at 37 seconds to make it 98-86. When Vondette made a triple at 31 seconds to make the score 98-89 it marked as close as the Comets would get to BW. Crowe made two foul shots at 24 seconds to get BW to the century mark at 100-89 znd a Krakowiak foul shot at 14 seconds made it 101-89.
BW next plays on Wednesday, December 4 when the Yellow Jackets open Ohio Athletic Conference play in Ada, Ohio against Ohio Northern University inside the ONU Sports Center at 7:30 p.m. The OAC home opener is on Saturday, Dec. 7 versus Capital University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center in Berea 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]kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at [jefmille@bw.edu]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.
