SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Junior point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) scored a game-high 22 points, including four three-pointers, as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team beat Southwestern Texas University, 76-62, in the first round of the Trinity (Texas) University Holiday Tournament in Weber Gymnasium. The Yellow Jackets also play Schreiner (Texas) University tomorrow at Trinity at 3:00 p.m. (EST)
With its win, BW, now 6-4 overall, snapped a three-game losing streak. In addition to Crowe for the Yellow Jackets, senior three-yime All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) had 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds and senior guard Grant Fairhurt (Ashland) came off the bench to score 14 points, including making four three-pointers.
With his 18 points, Payne now has 1,315 career points to stand in 15th place all-time. Next up and in 14th place is Ron Myers (1977-80), who had 1,361 points. In addition, senior two-time All-OAC guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/Holy Name) had four points and now ranks 27th in BW history with 1,075 points. Today, he surpassed Ryan Sooy (1993-1997), who had 1,072 points and Brian Newland (1987-1991), who had 1,074, and now needs 15 points to catch John Popp (1947-1950), who had 1,090 points and is 28th all-time.
Southwestern, now 3-7 overall, has lost five straight games. The Pirates were led by junior guard Adrian Johnson who came off the bench to score 15 points.
In the first half, Southwestern built an 11-5 lead at 14:54 when senior guard Michael Cantu made a layup. BW came right back to outscore the Pirates 8-2 to tie the game at 13-13 at 13:28 when Fairhurst made a three-pointer. The Yellow Jackets ended a 9-0 run when Crowe canned a jumper at 12:26 for a 17-13 advantage.
After Southwestern made a triple to close to 17-16 at 11:55, BW had another 8-2 run to build a 25-18 lead at 10:28 when senior forward Skyler Simpson (Centerburg) made two foul shots. The Pirates had a 8-4 run to close to 29-26 at 6:50 when Johnson made a triple. Johnson came off the bench to score 11 first half points to keep the PIrates in the game. But the Yellow Jackets outscored Southwestern 11-3 to take a 40-29 lead at 1:24 when Crowe canned a trey. Crowe's 13 first half markers, including three three-pointers, gave BW the 11-point bulge at the intermission.
In the second half, Southwestern closed to nine points on two occassions with the last at 45-36 with 17:44 left when junior guard Eric Garza canned a three-pointer. But BW came right back with five straight points to lead 50-36 at 16:55 when Crowe nailed another three-pointer. The lead grew to 15 at 53-38 when Fairhurst canned his third triple at 15:55.
The lead grew as high as 17 at 58-41 with 12:50 left when Payne made a layup. The Pirates came right back with a 6-1 run to cut it to 59-47 with 8:12 left when senior guard Chase Kocher made a jump shot. Then, after BW took a 68-52 lead with 4:38 left on a Payne layup, Southwestern scored seven straight points to make it 68-59 with 3:19 left when Kocher made two foul shots.
A three-point play by Payne at 2:45 renewed a 71-59 BW advantage, but Southwestern's Garza made a layup at 2:06 and Kocher added one of two foul shots at 1:43 to whittle the lead to 71-62. Junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hills, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) put a dagger in the hearts of the Pirates with a three-point play at 1:18 to essentially end matters.
After playing Schreiner tomorrow, the Yellow Jackets resume Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday, January 4, 2015 when they host Otterbein University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 3 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.
Photo Courtesy of Mark Selmek
