UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – Senior guard Justin Roth (Parma)  scored a game-high 26 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost to host John Carroll University, 80-78, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. The loss ended a season-high eight-game winning streak for the Yellow Jackets.

Roth, the leading scorer in the OAC, scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half.  In addition to Roth for BW (12-4, 6-3 OAC), senior All-OAC guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) had 12 points and senior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hills, Fla. Nature Coast Technical) had 10. JCU (11-4, 7-2 OAC) was led by senior forward Jake Hollinger's 15 points, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.

In the first half, BW opened an early, 6-2 lead at 18:41 when Roth canned his first triple. Following three lead changes and a tie, the Yellow Jackets went on an 11-0 run to take a 21-12 lead at 13:17 when junior Academic All-OAC forward Ryan Walsh (Clyde) made a layup off of a fast break.

The Blue Streaks came right back with a 14-0 run of their own to take the lead at 26-21 at 9:20 when junior guard Ryan Farragher made a layup to end a fast break. Undaunted, BW outscored JCU 20-5 to take a 41-31 advantage at 2:49 when Dennis grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. The Jackets also had their largest lead at 44-34 at 1:46 when Roth nailed his fourth trey. BW also led at halftime, 44-35.

In the second half, JCU took a 51-50 lead at 14:53 when Hollinger scored on a layup. After two lead changes and a tie, the Blue Streaks forged their largest lead at 67-60 at 7:35 when Hollinger made a jump shot.

BW fought back and cut the deficit to 72-71 at 4:20 when Crowe canned a triple.  The Yellow Jackets also closed to 79-78 with nine seconds left when freshman forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk) made two foul shots. BW had one last chance to win. It took the ball out of bounds with 4.4 seconds left, but a three-pointer by Dennis at the buzzer went in-and-out.

BW returns to action on Saturday, January 24 when the Yellow Jackets host OAC rival Muskingum University at 3 p.m. in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.