Schnelle pours in season-high 27 points as Men's Basketball falls at B-W, 73-65

By Monique Bowman

BEREA-Senior Scott Schnelle scored a game and season-high 27 points in Ohio Northern men's basketball's 73-65 loss to Baldwin-Wallace on Saturday at Ursprung Gymnasium.

Northern finishes the regular season 12-13 overall and 8-10 in the OAC, while the Yellow Jackets move to 16-9 overall and 11-7 in the league.

Sophomore Branden Rushton followed up behind Schnelle with 10 points, and freshman Jordan Martin and sophomore Dominique Royal each chipped in eight.

For B-W, Kyle Payne led the Yellow Jackets with 23 points, followed by Kevin Krakowiak's 11 points and Tyler Ferrell's 10.

Northern took its first lead of the game with eight minutes left in the first half, when freshman Adam Bair converted an and-1 opportunity on a jumper and subsequent free throw.

He struck again 34 seconds later with a 3-pointer to give the Polar Bears the 21-17 advantage.

ONU would go up by six points on a Martin layup with 2:26 remaining, and the team would hold on to go into the break with the 36-31 lead.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second half on a 9-2 run, the bulk of which in the opening minute when they drained four foul shots and a jumper.

Two more ties and Baldwin-Wallace would get the lead on a Krakowiak jumper at 15:31 mark and keep it, going up by as many as 10 points with four minutes left on a Ferrell jumper.

The Polar Bears kept fighting, closing to within four points with 22 seconds left on a Rushton trey, but B-W's Payne and Jaron Crowe would each drain two foul shot opportunities down the stretch to seal the 73-65 win.

Northern now turns its attention to the first round of the league tournament on Monday evening.

The sixth-seeded Polar Bears will host seventh-seeded Mount Union at 7:30 p.m. at the ONU Sports Center.