TIFFIN, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team came away with the hard fought, 70-68 victory over Heidelberg University inside Seiberling Gymnasium.
BW (12-6, 6-5 OAC) had four players in double figures, led by senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference and two-time Academic All-OAC guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/Lincoln), who had a game-high 21 points. Junior Academic All-OAC guard Michael Quiring (Brunswick) poured in 14 while sophomore guard Luke Schaefer (Medina) tallied 12 and senior Kyle Nader (Vermilion) contributed with 11.
Heidelberg (6-12, 4-7 OAC) had two players score 18 points, senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC forward Myron Prewitt and sophomore center Alex Arellano.
The Yellow Jackets have now swept Heidelberg in the season series and is 4-2 against the Student Princes over the past three seasons, while moving to 5-2 in the month of January.
After Heidelberg grabbed an early 5-0 lead, BW would tie the game at nine with a 9-4 run, capped off by a Tyler Colombo (Strasburg/Tuscarawas Central Catholic) layup at the 14:56 mark. Both squads scored 10 points over the next six minutes to tie the game at 19. A hustle rebound from Quiring and pass to Battle for a three gave BW a 22-19 advantage at 6:15. BW closed out the half on a 14-3 run and went into halftime with a 36-22 lead.
The Student Princes opened the second half on a 21-6 run to take a 43-42 lead with 11 minutes to play off, after a dunk from Prewitt. BW answered quickly with an old-fashioned three point play from Quiring, but the Student Princes would tie the game back up at 45 on the next possession. Over the next five minutes there were four lead changes and two ties. With the game tied at 56, Battle knocked down a trey to bring the score to 59-56, and Heidelberg would call a timeout at 5:08. Heidelberg came out of the timeout with a 5-0 spurt to take a 61-59 edge with under four minutes to play. BW went on an 11-5 run in the final minutes, including 8 points from Battle and sinking his fourth and fifth threes of the game. BW came away with the 70-68 conference victory.
Up next for the Yellow Jackets is a home game against Muskingum University on Saturday, January 26 at 4 p.m, and will be back on the road against Ohio Northern University on Wednesday, January 30 at 7 p.m.
