By: Athletic Communications Student Assistant Joe Meyer '24

BEREA, Ohio - Senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC guard Anthony Mazzeo (North Canton/Massillon Jackson) beat the buzzer to send the game to overtime and hit the game winner as time expired, as the Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team won an overtime thriller against Hobart (N.Y.) College, by a final score of 85-84 in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.

On an afternoon where he beat the buzzer to extend the game to overtime and hit the game winner as the horn sounded, Mazzeo also became the 44^th member of the 1000 point at BW. With 4:41 left in the first half, Mazzeo buried a three off an assist senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC Jake Snyder (Stow/Archbishop Hoban) to reach the prestigious mark. Mazzeo went on to score 14 more points and now sits at 41^st on the all-time leading scorers list.

BW Leaders (4-4, 1-2 OAC)

• Mazzeo recorded a team-high 25 points to lead the Yellow Jackets.
• Senior forward Jackson Simmons (Wadsworth) notched his third career double-double, tallying 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
• Freshman guard Ray Ellington (Westlake) tallied two career-highs with 14 points and 9 rebounds.
• Senior all-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Jake Snyder (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) added 15 points and 8 assists in the win. 

Hobart Leaders (6-4, 2-1 Liberty League)

• Senior forward Jackson Meshanic led the way for the Statesmen, tallying a double-double with a game-high 27 points and game-high 15 rebounds.
• Meshanic's younger brother, sophomore guard Carter Meshanic, added 18 points and 4 rebounds.
• Senior guard Andrew Lynch tallied 15 points.
• Sophomore guard Aidan Rodgers added 11 points and 5 rebounds in the losing effort.

First Half (Hobart 48-47)

• Mazzeo scored twice in the span of 12 seconds to give BW a 13-4 advantage just three minutes into the game.
• Hot shooting by the Statesmen fueled a 30-7 run over the next nine minutes, as Hobart took a 34-20 lead with 8:22 left to play in the half. 
• Mazzeo surpassed the 1,000-point mark with a stepback jumper from behind the arc with 4:41 left in the half, closing the gap to single digits in the process.
• Ensuing back-to-back three-pointers by Ellington cut the Hobart lead to 46-43.
• BW battled back by outscoring the Statesmen 23-8 over the final 5:54 of the half, cutting the deficit to 48-47 at the break.
• Mazzeo's 16 first-half points, along with 12 points from Ellington, fueled BW's strong offensive performance during the opening twenty minutes.

Second Half (Tied 78-78)

• Snyder buried a deep three to cut the deficit to 52-50 with 17:57 to play.
• Hobart responded with a 10-0 scoring run to extend their advantage to 12 (62-50).
• A three-pointer by Simmons brought BW back to within single digits (72-64) with 8:08 left on the clock.
• Mazzeo capped off an 18-3 BW run with an old school three-point play, giving the Yellow Jackets a 74-73 lead with 2:08 to play.
• The Statesmen scored the next five points, taking a 78-74 lead into the final minute of play.
• Trailing 78-75 with 1.6 seconds left, Mazzeo collected a long inbounds pass and drilled a contested 25-footer at the buzzer to tie the game at 78, sending the game to overtime.
• Snyder led a well-balanced BW attack with 7 points and 3 assists in the second half.

Overtime (BW 85-84)

• Hobart took an 82-80 lead with 3:38 to play in the extra period.
• A driving layup by Snyder cut the Hobart lead to 83-82 with 11 seconds to play.
• After BW regained possession trailing 84-82 with 7 seconds left, Mazzeo finished off a performance to remember with his second buzzer-beating three-pointer of the afternoon, giving the Yellow Jackets an 85-84 victory.

The Yellow Jackets return to action on Saturday, December 17th when they host OAC opponent Otterbein University in the first game of a men's and women's doubleheader at 2:00 p.m. in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.