BEREA, Ohio -- Sophomore All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Cam Kuhn (Vermilion) scored a game and career-high 28 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost to Cleveland cross-town and non-conference rival Case Western Reserve University, 88-83, in its home opener in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
Joining Kuhn in double figures for BW (1-1) were sophomore forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk) with his second straight double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds senior guard Brandon Gleim (Hilliard/ Davidson) with 14 points. CWRU (2-1) was led by senior guard Jimmy Holman's team-high 21 points. In addition, sophomore forward Eric Black scored all of his 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting in the second half.
In the first half, CWRU's Holman scored five of the first six points in the contest and the Spartans led 5-1 at 16:43. BW responded with an 11-0 run, including seven points by Kuhn, to take a 12-5 lead at 13:34. The Yellow Jacket lead grew to 11 at 19-8 at 9:41 when freshman guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/ Lincoln) made a layup.
The Spartans got back in the game and closed their deficit to 26-25 at 3:37 when Alvarez stole the ball, drove the length of the floor and made a layup. BW scored seven straight points to take a 33-25 lead at 1:48 when Gleim canned a triple. CWRU responded by scoring the final 10 points of the stanza, including a trey by Holman with two seconds left to lead 35-33 at halftime.
In the second half, the Spartans came out hot and outscored BW 21-12 to build a 56-43 lead at 13:18 when Clark made a layup. BW reduced the deficit to nine points on two separate occasions with the last at 67-58 with 6:53 left when Peters made a layup. CWRU then rebuilt its lead to 19 at 81-62 with 3:23 left before the Jackets fought back. BW outscored the Spartans 16-2 to cut the lead to 83-78 when Kuhn nailed a three. But that was as close as the Yellow Jackets would get to the Spartans.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action this Friday, November 20 when BW travels to Buffalo, New York to play in the Medaille (N.Y.) College Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery Tournament. On Friday, BW plays Middlebury (Vt.) College at 7 p.m. Host Medaille plays St. Lawrence (N.Y.) University at 5 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 21, Friday's two losing teams play in the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the two winning teams play in the championship game at 3 p.m.
