BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College men’s basketball team finished the 2007-2008 at 12-15 overall and an 8-10 record in Ohio Athletic Conference play.
Highlighting the season was B-W's 86-60 win at Marietta College on the final day of the OAC regular season, as veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Steve Bankson won his 700th career game.
The signature win of the season came in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals when the number-six seeded Yellow Jackets defeated the third-seeded Wilmington Quakers, 67-59, on Wilmington's home floor. That victory put B-W in the OAC Tournament Semifinals for the fourth consecutive season.
As a team, B-W scored 80.3 points per game, while shooting 46.6 percent (777-of-1666) from the field, 37.3 percent (207-of-557) from three-point range, and 74.5 percent from the free-throw line (407-of-546). The 207 made three pointers and 557 attempts are both B-W men's basketball team records.
Individually, the Yellow Jackets were led in scoring this season by sophomore transfer wing Kyle Brown. Brown (Strongsville) scored a team-high 409 points, for a 16.4 points per game average. He also made a team-high 64 three pointers. Brown scored a team single-game high of 31 points this season in an 87-84 loss to SUNY-Cortland. For his efforts, Brown was named to the All-Tournament Team at both the Penn State Behrend Tournament and University of Rochester (N.Y.) Holiday Inn Airport Tournament as well as honorable mention All-OAC.
Senior point guard Brendan Schuler (Fairview Park/Fairview) concluded his outstanding four-year career as the 18th all-time leading scorer in B-W men's basketball history with 1,159 career points. Schuler also stands third in career assists with 484 and seventh in three pointers with 182. This season, Schuler was second in scoring at 13.3 ppg., and first in assists with 146. Schuler was a three-time All-OAC selection, including being named to the second team this season. Also this season, Schuler was named to the All-Tournament Teams at the Penn State Behrend Tournament and Franklin (Ind.) College's Goaltenders-Banker Classic. He also holds the school record for making 13 straight three point field goal attempts during the 2005-2006 season.
Senior guard Tyler Sekerak (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) appeared in 113 games for his career, the most in B-W history. Sekerak was B-W's best on-the-ball defender as he normally drew the defensive assignment of guarding the opposition's best perimeter shooter. Sekerak finished his career with 761 points, 223 assists and 148 steals. This season, Sekerak was sixth in scoring at 7.7 ppg., first in steals with 56 and second in assists with 58. He was named to the OAC Tournament's All-Tournament Team for his efforts during the Yellow Jackets' appearance in the tournament.
Junior post Andrew Bene (Hinckley/Medina Highland) established himself as one of the top post players in the OAC. This season, Bene was second in scoring at 13.3 ppg., and was first in rebounding with 7.5 rpg. and block shots with 40. He also connected on 51.7 percent (137-of-265) of his shots from the field. In his three seasons, Bene has 560 career points, 362 rebounds and 58 block shots.
Sophomore guard Louis Tumblin (Elyria/Senior) began the season coming off the bench, but was inserted into the starting line-up early in the season. He responded well as he was fourth in scoring at 12.6 ppg., second in rebounding with 4.3 rpg. and 44 assists. For his career, Tumblin has averaged 9.2 ppg., and 3.0 rpg. in 54 games played.
Junior guard Dennis Santiago (Brook Park/Midpark) came off the bench for Bankson as his "sixth man." Santiago scored 7.9 ppg. grabbed 3.1 rpg. and had 26 three-pointers, 27 assists and 12 steals. He led the team at the free-throw line as he connected on 86.5 percent (42-52) of his shots at the charity stripe. For his efforts both in the classroom and on the basketball court, Santiago earned Academic All-OAC accolades for the second straight season. For his career, Santiago has averaged 7.7 ppg., pulled down 2.5 rpg. and has dished out 75 assists and had 43 steals.
Off the bench and in addition to Santiago, sophomore guard Paul Glass (Medina/Senior), freshman post Kyle Rockwell (Salem/West Branch), freshman guard Jake Cayton (Magnolia/SandyValley), freshman wing Zane Meeder ( Erie, Pa./Fairview) and freshman post Jeff Cannan (Dublin/Coffman) each added strength and depth to the Yellow Jacket attack.
Glass saw action in 26 games, including six starts, and averaged 5.3 ppg., shot 46.4 percent (52-of-112) from the field and grabbed 2.3 rpg. Rockwell also saw action in 26 games, including one start, averaged 2.0 ppg., as he shot 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the field and pulled down 1.8 rpg. Cayton played in 25 games, scored 1.9 ppg., pulled down 0.5 rpg., had 12 assists and nine steals. Meeder appeared in 21 contests and scored 1.7 ppg., had 0.4 rpg. and had eight assists and three steals. Cannan played in 13 games, scored 0.6 ppg. and had 1.0 rpg.
In addition, freshmen Brandon Williams (Amherst/Elyria Catholic), Brandon Floyd (Cleveland/Martin Luther King), Taylor Roth (Sandusky/St. Mary Central Catholic) and John Maruschak (Painesville/Riverside) all saw limited playing time this season but gained valuable experience for the future.
Senior wing Nick Meyer (Mentor) attempted to come back from an injury that occured a season ago, but suffered another injury during a scrimmage and couldn't compete this season. Even though he wasn't able to play, Meyer provided leadership for the underclassmen.
Overall, the 2007-2008 season was another exctiting year of basketball at Baldwin-Wallace College and continued a tradition of excellence. B-W will sorely miss the outstanding play and leadership of Schuler, Sekerak and Meyer, but the future is bright with Brown, Bene, Tumblin, Santiago, Glass, Rockwell, Cayton, Meeder and Cannan returning in 2008-2009.
B-W will also be losing another member of the basketball program. On March 19 Head Coach Steve Bankson announced his retirement as basketball coach and athletic director at B-W. Bankson ends his career after 44 years with a record of 701-442 including a mark of 420-328 at B-W. He leaves as the winningest men's basketball coach in Yellow Jacket history. His most proud record at B-W is the fact that 83 of the 85 men's basketball student-athletes who have played four years of basketball at B-W for Bankson have earned their degree, and the other two continue to work toward that goal. As Bankson heads towards retirement, he leaves the men's basketball program in very good shape.
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