BEREA, OHIO – Otterbein junior wing Brice Rausch scored a game-high 23 points as the visiting Otterbein Cardinals defeated Baldwin-Wallace, 76-56, tonight (Thursday, February 3, 2011) in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center in Berea. This was a rescheduled game from yesterday.
With its loss, Baldwin-Wallace falls to 7-13 overall and 3-10 in the OAC and was held to a season-low for points in a game. The Yellow Jackets were led by freshman forward Kyle Payne (Brunswick) with 12 points while All-OAC junior guard Promis Cabbil (Elyria) chipped in 11. With its win, Otterbein is now 10-10 overall and 6-7 in the OAC. In addition to Rausch, freshman forward Max Van Meter scored 18 points while junior center Chris Davis tallied 12.
In the first half, Otterbein jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Rausch made a lay-up at the 19:40 mark. After the Cardinals built an 8-0 lead, B-W got on the board when freshman forward Payne made a layup at the 16:38 mark. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead to one, 8-7, when junior guard Cabbil hit a jumper at the 15:20.
Otterbein used a 6-0 run that was fueled by Davis with four points. B-W ended the run when Payne hit a hook shot at the 11:53 mark to make the score 14-9 in favor of the Cardinals. Otterbein opened up a 10 point lead after freshman guard C.J. Julian converted the traditional three point play by hitting at the 9:16.
The Yellow Jackets cut the deficit back to eight, 21-13, when sophomore forward Scott Branchik (Mentor) made a layup at the 8:46 mark. The Cardinals opened up 14 point lead when freshman guard Matt McCollister hit a three at the 5:37 mark to make the score 33-19. Freshman guard Grant Fairhurst (Ashland) gave the Yellow Jackets some life when he knocked down his second trey of the game at the 4:49 mark to cut the lead back to 11.
The Cardinals opened up their largest lead of the game when Rausch made a layup at the 3:19 mark to make the score 39-22. A jumper by sophomore guard Ben Umbel (Poland/Seminary) at the 2:17 mark sparked a 5-0 run by the Yellow Jackets.
B-W cut the lead to 12 when Payne finished off a traditional three point play at the 1:58 mark. The Yellow Jackets were able to cut the lead to seven when sophomore forward Chris Ameen (Broadview Heights/Walsh Jesuit) scored six straight points including a three as time expired to make the score 41-34 at intermission.
In the second half, B-W could not get any closer than the halftime deficit of seven points. Otterbein increased its lead to as many 23 points on layup by Raush at the 6:19 mark
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, February 5 when they travel to New Concord, Ohio to play OAC-rival Muskingum University in the John Glenn Gymnasium at 4:00 p.m. This game is the nightcap of a women's and men's doubleheader. The B-W and Muskingum women tipoff at 2:00 p.m. In addition, fans can listen to all of the action on either campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, or via the WBWC Internet web site at www.wbwc.com.
FOR MORE B-W 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 e-mail at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.