TIFFIN, Ohio – Senior three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) scored a game-high 22 points as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival Heidelberg University, 74-57, in the Seiberling Gymnasium in the next to last OAC regular season game.

 

With its win, the Yellow Jackets are 13-11 overall and 9-8 in the OAC with one regular season game remaining.  The OAC Tournament is next week. BW also received 14 points from senior two-time All-OAC guard Kevin Krakowiak (Valley City/ Parma Heights Holy Name). Payne now has 1,536 career points and stands 10th on the Yellow Jacket all-time scoring list. Krakowiak now has 1,324 career points and stands 16th all-time. Heidelberg, now 6-18 and 2-15 in the OAC, was led by sophomore guard Deonte Holder with 16 points.

 

In the first half, Heidelberg grabbed a pair of early six-point leads with the last at 11-5 at 15:40 when sophomore forward Jackson Blue made a layup. BW outscored the Student Princes 15-9 to tie it at 20-20 at 9:09 when Krakowiak dunked.

 

Heidelberg regained a four-point advantage at 24-20 at 8:17 when junior center Doug Waldmannstetter grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Undaunted, the Yellow Jackets finished the half on a 13-5 run to grab a 33-29 lead when junior guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) made a driving layup. BW led by the same score at the intermission.

 

In the second half, the Yellow Jackets scored 10 of the first 12 points to grab a 43-31 lead at 16:11 when junior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hills, Fla./ Nature Coast Technical) made a layup. The lead grew to 16 points on two separate occasions with the last at 51-35 at 13:28 when Crowe made a layup.

 

The Student Princes cut the lead to 11 at 51-40 at 11:19 when junior guard Frank Longhino canned a three-pointer, but BW scored seven straight points to build its largest lead at 17 points at 57-40 with 8:29 left when freshman forward Jaelen Hollinger (Akron/ Archbishop Hoban) made two foul shots.

 

After the lead grew to 19 points, the closest Heidelberg got after that point was 10 points at 67-57 with 1:47 left.

 

The Yellow Jackets next play on Saturday, February 22 when they travel to New Concord, Ohio to play Muskingum University at 3:00 p.m. to end the OAC regular season. BW will open OAC Tournament play either on Monday, Feb. 24 at home or on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at a site and versus an opponent yet t be determined.  You can view the entire OAC Tournamet bracket on the OAC website on Sunday, Feb. 23 at www.oac.org.

 

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.