ANGOLA, Ind. - The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team dropped a non-conference game to #7 nationally ranked Trine (Ind.) University on a last second shot by a final score of 72-70 in the MTI Center.
BW (4-1) was led by junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Anthony Mazzeo (North Canton/Massillon Jackson) who scored 24 points and had two steals. Junior guard Jake Snyder (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) who had 14 points, four rebounds, and five assists. Sophomore All-OAC guard Drew Wennes (Huron) had 13 points and four boards.
Trine (5-1) was led by senior guard Nick Bowman who had 23 points. Senior forward Mitchell Geller added 13 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Hayden Jones scored 12 points.
Both teams came out gate hitting shots and getting chances. The Thunder hit the first shot of the game; however, the Yellow Jackets took the lead shortly later off a three from Mazzeo, who led all scorers all the half with 12. After that Trine got a 10 run to get a 14-5 lead. The teams continued to trade shots as the Thunder lead grew to 12. From there BW got hot from three as they went 4/5 to trim the Trine lead to one with 2:37 left in the half. Bowman got to the line to extend the lead to three. On the next possession, Shane Zalba (Mentor) connected on a three off the dish from Wennes to tie things up at 32-32. The Thunder finished off the last minute on a 6-1 run including a last second shot to take a 37-33 advantage into the half.
After the break, Trine was able to jump out to a seven-point lead with 15:28 remaining in the game. The Yellow Jackets were able to retake the lead after an 8-0 led by Mazzeo who made six. BW continued to extend their led as they climbed out a six-point lead after Snyder made a three with 10 minutes remaining. The Thunder got a 10-2 run of their own to regain a four-point lead. Both teams continued to make shots as they battled with the four-point lead. With eight seconds left in the game Snyder knocked a three to tie things up off of an assist from Zalba. In the waning seconds of the game Bowman knocked down a shot with .6 seconds left on the clock to give Trine a 72-70 win.
The Yellow Jackets return to the court on Wednesday, December 1st when they open up OAC play when they host Heidelberg University at 7:00 p.m. in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.