NEW WILMINGTON, Pennsylvania – Senior guard Justin Roth (Parma) recorded his fifth 20-plus point game of the season as he scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team to an 81-65 non-conference road victory against Westminster College in the Buzz Ridl Gymnasium.
Roth, who has now led the BW (6-3) scoring attack in five of nine games, scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half.. Sophomore forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk) recorded a career-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior forward Matt Dennis (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) grabbed a game and career-high 14 rebounds and tallied nine points.
Charlie Wallander led four Westminster (3-4) players in double figures with 15 points. Matt Getsy recorded 14 while Paul Carwsell and Deontay Scott each added 13 points.
Over first three plus minutes of the first half, the game was tied three times with the last coming at 7-7 on a three-pointer by Getsy of the Titans at the 13:25 mark. Westminster took its largest lead of the opening period of four points as it used a 6-2 run to lead 13-9 on a jumper by Scott at 13:37. The Yellow Jackets responded with a 5-1 run to regain the lead at 14-13 on a trey by junior guard Zach Warner (Clyde) at the 11:50 mark.
The Titans used a 4-0 run to take their final lead of the first half at 17-14 on a pair of free throws by Scott at 9:39. BW answered back with a 9-0 run to take a 23-17 lead on triple by Roth at the 7:20 mark. Westminster cut the lead down to just one point at 25-24 on a three-pointer by Wallander at 5:02.
The Yellow Jackets outscored the Titans 12-5 down the stretch to lead 37-29 at the intermission. BW held its largest lead of the opening stanza of nine points at 37-28 on a layup by Dennis with 58 seconds remaining.
The Yellow Jackets opened the second half on an 11-2 run to push its lead to their lead to 17 points at 48-31 on jumper by Fetherolf at the 17:19 mark. Fetherolf accounted for eight of the 11 points on the run. Westminster responded with a 9-4 run to cut the lead down to 52-40 on a layup by Tre Major at 13:41.
BW responded with a 7-3 run to push the lead back to 57-43 on a trey by junior guard Brandon Gleim (Hilliard/Davidson) at the 12:15 mark. The Yellow Jackets went on a 10-4 run to take its largest lead of the game of 20 points at 67-47 when Fetherolf split a pair of free throws at 7:10. The Titans answered back with an 8-0 run to cut the lead down to 12 points at 67-55 on layup by Scott at 4:57. Westminster would get no closer as the Yellow Jackets outscored the Titans 14-10 down the stretch.
BW is back in action on Saturday, January 3, 2015 when it hosts Bethany (W.Va.) College in a non-conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 3 p.m. Fans can follow and watch all the action live at http://tinyurl.com/bwbethmbb.
