WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The fifth-seeded Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team took down fourth seeded Otterbein University in the Ohio Athletic Conference Quarterfinals. The Yellow Jackets won by a final score of 87-79 inside the Rike Center.
BW (14-9, 9-7 OAC) was led by junior All-OAC guard Anthony Mazzeo (North Canton/Massillon Jackson) who scored a game-high 26 points. Senior guard Shane Zalba (Mentor) added 14 points and five boards. Junior guard Jake Snyder (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) scored 16 points and grabbed six boards. Sophomore forward Christian Pfeiffer (Amherst) contributed 11 points and two blocks.
Otterbein (17-7, 11-6 OAC) was led by junior All-OAC guard Dallas Patrick who scored 22 points. Senior Academic All-OAC Jake Justice added 16 points and seven boards. Sophomore guard Cam Evans contributed 15 points. Senior All OAC forward Justin Carter scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and had two blocks.
1st half
- The Cardinals got on the board first with a Patrick layup.
- A 10-2 Yellow Jacket run gave BW a 17-12 lead with 8:21 remaining in the half.
- Otterbein responded with a 7-0 run to regain the lead.
- An 11-4 Yellow Jacket run gave them their largest lead of the game at 36-29.
- Mazzeo was the high scorer with 15 in the first half.
- BW shot 53.6% from the field in the half.
- Otterbein kept in close by going 12-14 from the free throw line.
2nd half
- Mazzeo continued to have the hot hand as he made the first shot of the half.
- The Cardinals responded with two quick threes to cut the Yellow Jackets lead to 2
- Pfeiffer dunk
- After a few Cardinal buckets, BW responded with another 8-0 and stormed out to a 13 point lead.
- The teams battled back and forward but Otterbein was able to cut the Yellow Jacket lead don to 8.
- BW responded and got their largest lead of the day at 15 with 7:18 remaining.
- Throughout the last minutes of the game, the Cardinals got the Yellow Jackets lead done to six. But BW climbed back to win by eight.
- Pfeiffer was the leader in the half for the Yellow Jackets as he added nine points, three rebounds, and two blocks.
- Junior forward Jackson Simmons (Wadsworth) was the game high rebounder with 10, he added two blocks and a steal.
BW returns to action on Thursday, February 24 when the team travels to Marrietta to take on No. 2 nationally-ranked and top seeded Marietta College in the OAC Semifinals inside the Ban Johnson Arena at 7:00 p.m.