MARIETTA, Ohio – Senior guard Justin Roth (Parma) scored 24 points, but the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team lost at Ohio Athletic Conference rival Marietta College, 78-74, in an OAC Tournament semi-final game in the Ban Johnson Fieldhouse.  With its win, Marietta advances to Saturday's OAC Championship game to play either John Carroll University or the University of Mount Union.

In addition to Roth for BW (18-9), senior two-time All-OAC point guard Jaron Crowe (Mentor) scored 13 points and freshman forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk), who ended up being named to the OAC Tournament all-tournament team, scored 12 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. Marietta (25-2) was led by junior guards RaNel Ewing and  Luis Garcia with 21 and 19 points, respectively.

Crowe ended his career with 1,002 points and 481 assists. His 481 career assists rank second all-time in school history. As a team, the Yellow Jackets recorded their fourth straight winning season.

In the first half, BW grabbed a 2-0 lead and led 8-2 at 17:25 when Fetherolf made a jump shot from the left baseline. The six-point advantage was the first of four by the Yellow Jackets with the last at 30-24 at 4:33 when Roth grabbed an offensive rebound and scored.

The Pioneers outscored BW 8-2 to tie the game at 32-32 at 2:05 when Garcia made the third of his three first-half three-pointers. The Jackets scored the next four points and led 36-32 with 29.1 seconds left before the intermission when sophomore forward Jaelen Hollinger (Akron/ Archbishop Hoban) had his shot blocked but grabbed the rebound and scored. BW also led 36-34 at halftime.

In the second half, there were two lead changes and three ties before the Pioneers grabbed a 46-43 lead at 12:55 when Garcia made a three-pointer. BW tied it again at 46-46 when sophomore guard Brandon Gleim (Hillard/Davidson) made a layup, was fouled and completed the three-point play at 12:33.

Marietta outscored BW 9-3 to take a 55-49 lead at 8:40 when Garcia made a layup. BW came back to tie it again at 57-57 and 61-61 before the Pioneers outscored BW 13-6 to take a 74-67 lead at 50.8 seconds when freshman guard Dillon Young made one of two foul shots.

But BW was done yet. Roth canned a triple and was fouled, but missed the free throw to make it 74-70 with 44.4 left. Ewing canned two charity tosses at 39.6 to make it 76-70 and Crowe made a driving layup at 34.3 to cut the deficit to 76-72.

After Marietta missed two foul shots, Roth was fouled beyond the arc with 12 seconds remaining and made two of three to make it 76-74. Young then iced the game when he canned a pair of foul shots with 6.2 seconds left.

The winner of the 2015 OAC Tournament receives an automatic berth in next week's NCAA Division III National Tournament.