UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team held off John Carroll University in an 89-85 overtime victory at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
BW (11-5, 5-4 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 27 points. Sophomore guard Luke Schaefer (Medina) set a career-high with 19 points, junior Academic All-OAC guard Michael Quiring (Brunswick) chipped in 14 and junior forward Tyler Colombo (Strasburg/ Tuscarawas Central Catholic) threw in 11. Junior forward Drew Sova (Chagrin Falls/ Kenston) led BW with 16 rebounds.
Reigning OAC champion John Carroll (6-10, 2-7 OAC) was led by sophomore guard Jackson Sartain, who had 18 points. Junior All-OAC honorable mention guard Jimmy Berger tallied 15, while junior guard Sean Flannery recorded 12 and junior guard Connor Fitzgerald marked 11.
This victory breaks a two-game, regular and post-season losing streak to the Blue Streaks for BW. The last victory came in the first contest last year when the Yellow Jackets pulled out an 88-79 victory, inside Ursprung Gymnasium.
BW opened the scoring on a driving layup from Battle, who has scored 58 points in the Jackets last two games. Over the next five minutes, the teams exchanged the lead six times and was tied once. Coming out of a timeout at 14:18 and up 11-10, BW went on a 10-1 run to give the Yellow Jackets a 21-11 edge. Ignited by back-to-back Battle three-pointers, BW went on a 14-6 spurt to grab its largest lead of the half of 35-17 at 6:19. John Carroll answered with a 17-13 run to end the half down 48-34.
The second half started similarly to the first as BW opened with an 11-10 run over the first five minutes, giving them a 59-44 lead. The Blue Streaks trimmed the lead to 68-64 off a 20-9 run at the 6:26 mark. Quiring responded with a trey, followed by a Sova steal and assist to Schaefer to give BW 74-64 lead with 4:37 left to play. John Carroll continued to fight and would tie the game at 78 off an old fashioned three-point play from Jimmy Berger at the 1:06 mark, capping off a 14-4 run. Neither team scored in their final possessions and the Yellow Jackets would head into their second overtime in as many games.
Battle notched an early layup in extra time and John Carroll made a free throw at 4:16 to bring the score to 80-79. Both teams tightened up their defense as neither team scored for three minutes, until a crucial three-pointer from Schaefer put the Yellow Jackets up 83-79 at the 1:44 mark. Sean Flannery scored the next baskets for the Blue Streaks to tie the game up at 83 with 1:10 left to play in overtime. Battle nailed two free-throws and the Blue Streaks would tie the game again at 85 off of a Sean Flannery layup with 43 seconds left. Kyle Nader (Vermilion) scored on an acrobatic layup to give BW an 87-85 edge, and the Yellow Jacket defense would hold off the Blue Streaks in their final two possessions for an 89-85 final.
The Yellow Jackets host #13 Marietta College next on Saturday, January 19 at 3 p.m and will be back on the road with a matchup against Heidelberg University on Wednesday January 23 at 7 p.m.
