BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team utilized a strong first half and balanced scoring and rebounding enroute to a 93-83 victory against Ohio Athletic Conference and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University inside the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.
This victory marks the first time since the 2012-13 season that the Yellow Jackets have swept the season series against its arch-rival. Keys to the BW victory were building a 50-30 lead at halftime, making 14-of-31 three-pointers (45.2 percent), outrebounding JCU 47-37 and passing for 22 assists.
BW (15-7, 9-6 OAC) had five players score in double figures, led by senior two-time All-OAC and two-time Academic All-OAC point guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/ Lincoln) who scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed secen rebounds and passed for a career-high nine assists. In addition, senior guard Kyle Nader (Vermilion) scored 16 and grabbed seven rebounds, sophomore guard Luke Schaefer (Medina) scored 14, junior forward Jack Lostoski (Uniontown/ Lake) came off the bench to score 13, and junior forward Tyler Colombo (Strasburg/ Tuscarawas Central Catholic) had the finest game of his career as he contributed with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
John Carroll (9-13, 5-10 OAC) had five players in double figures, led by junior All-OAC guard James Burger and junior guard Ryan Berger, who had 18 points each. Sophomore forward Luke Hippler tallied 14 while sophomore guard Jackson Sartain and junior forward Connor Fitzgerald each had 13.
BW was percolating to start the game and opened the first ten minutes with a 29-10 outburst, which included five of the Yellow Jackets ten threes in the half. The Yellow Jackets continued their hot shooting with a 16-13 run to bring the score to 45-23 with 3:39 left in the frame. The Blue Streaks closed the half with a 7-5 run and went into halftime down 50-30.
Both squads started the second half trading baskets to bring the score to 63-44 with 15:14 left to play. John Carroll went on a 14-4 spurt to trim the Yellow Jacket lead to 67-58 with ten minutes in the game, the first single digit deficit since 11-2 in the first half. BW responded with a 9-5 run, capped off with a layup from Battle that moved him up to No.-16 on BW's All-Time scoring list. The Yellow Jackets traded points with the Blue Streaks in the final minutes to bring the final score to 93-83.
BW will hit the road for a contest with Capital University on Saturday, February 9 at 2 p.m and will be host Mount Union on Wednesday, February 13 for the final home game of the regular season.
