BEREA, Ohio - Baldwin Wallace University ended the game on an 18-8 run to earn a come-from-behind 83-82 victory over the Wilmington College men's basketball team in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action on Saturday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets opened up an 11-point advantage midway through the first half as the OAC's leading scorer, Anthony Mazzeo, buried a triple at the 10:46 mark to make the score 26-15. The Quakers chipped into the deficit over the rest of the half. WC, which trailed by nine with just over five minutes to play in the half trailed by just one at the break as an Abdul Kanu layup beat the buzzer.
Baldwin Wallace scored the first basket of the second half to go up 45-42, but neither team broke away from the other for the first six minutes of the half. A Jake Snyder triple tied the game 57-57 with 13:16 left, but Lucas Doty answered with a jumper on the next possession. Wilmington then clamped down defensively, allowing just a single field goal over the next four minutes. A Noah Dado basket at the 9:27 mark put the visitors ahead 67-59. Four minutes later, another Doty basket gave the Quakers a 74-65 advantage with under six to play.
Then came the aforementioned run from the hosts. Ashton Price scored five straight points, and after both teams traded multiple baskets, two more Price free throws with 2:39 to play made it a single possession game. Both teams turned the ball over, but a Snyder triple from deep gave BW a 79-78 lead. Doty answered with a pair of free throws, but the Yellow Jackets punched back with a basket from Snyder. Down a point, WC missed a layup with 36 seconds to go, and the hosts scored again to go up three with 12 seconds left. Domenic Farley got a look for a potential game-tying triple, but it just missed. Obed Achirem got the rebound and laid it in, but time expired.
Both teams shot similarly from the field and three-point range as the Quakers made one more field goal (32-31) while the Yellow Jackets had an 8-7 edge in made three-pointers. The hosts shot eight percentage points better from the free throw line and made two more from the charity stripe. Wilmington won the rebounding battle 47-30 and held a 24-2 edge in second chance points.
Individually, BW relied heavily on its starts as Snyder and Price had 21 points each. Mazzeo added 17 while Jackson Simmons had 10 of the Yellow Jackets 15 bench points. Achirem had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards for Wilmington while Doty added 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench. Dado had eight points and nine rebounds.
Wilmington (3-3, 0-1 OAC) host Ohio Northern University on Wednesday evening.
