BEREA, Ohio -- Sophomore All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Cam Kuhn (Vermilion) scored 20 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost to visiting OAC rival University of Mount Union, 80-79, in an OAC game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
In addition to Kuhn for BW (10-8, 5-6 OAC), sophomore forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk), junior guard Brandon Gleim (Hilliard/ Davidson) and freshman guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/ Lincoln) each scored 12 points. Mt. Union (13-5, 9-2 OAC) was led by senior forward Jared Ruffin's game-high 29 points.
In the first half, BW opened an early 9-4 lead at 16:43 when junior guard Zack Brandy (Hudson) made a three-pointer. Mt. Union came right back with an 8-0 run to lead 12-9 at 15:05 before the Yellow Jackets outscored the Purple Raiders 19-10 to take the third six-point lead of the stanza at 28-22 at 8:46 when sophomore forward Mike Kaminski (Medina) nailed a triple.
BW continued its assault and built a double-digit advantage at 37-24 at 5:35 when Battle made two foul shots. BW led at halftime, 44-33.
In the second half, Fetherolf scored the first four points and BW led 48-33 at 1:35. A 7-0 Mt. Union run brought BW's lead to 48-40 at 17:08 before a 5-0 run gave the Jackets a 53-40 lead at 16:07 when senior Academic All-OAC guard Zach Warner (Clyde) nailed a trey.
Mt. Union cut the BW lead to one point on three occasions with the last at 72-71 with 5:24 left. The Purple Raiders finally took the lead at 79-77 when Ruffin grabbed an offensive rebound, scored, was fouled and made his foul shot to complete the three-point play. It was a 39-24 run by Mt. Union. BW freshman guard Michael Peters (Cuyahoga Falls/ CVCA) tied it at 79-all when he made one of two foul shots with 12.1 seconds
Mt. Union gained the win when with 0.4 seconds left after a last second desperation shot. Senior Kyle Scelza was fouled. After a BW timeout, he missed the first of two foul shots, the only free throw the Raiders missed all night, and canned the second one for the win.
BW is back in action on Saturday, January 30 when the Yellow Jackets host Marietta College in the Ursprung Gym at 3 p.m.
