BEREA, Ohio –The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team upset No. 20-nationally ranked John Carroll University in an Ohio Athletic Conference game by a final score of 88-79 in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
BW (13-3, 7-2 OAC), who improved to 35-18 in the series at home, had five players score in double figures led by senior All-OAC forward Jake Fetherolf (Norwalk) as he recorded his league leading seventh double-double of the season and 25th of his career with 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior All-OAC guard Cam Kuhn (Vermilion) poured in 17 points. Junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Jay Battle (Gahanna/Lincoln) scored 11 points all in the second half, sophomore Tyler Colombo (Strasburg/Tuscarawas Central Catholic) tied a career-high with 11 points and senior forward Mike Kaminski (Medina) added 11 points.
John Carroll (13-3, 7-2 OAC) had four players score in double digits led by senior guard Antonio Vuyancih as he scored a game-high 23 points. Senior guard Matthew Csuhran came off the bench to score 15 points. Sophomore guard Jimmy Berger chipped in 13 points while freshman guard Jackson Sartain contributed 10 points.
The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an early 9-2 when Kuhn hit BW's third consecutive three-pointer to open the game at the 18:29 mark. The Blue Streaks tied the game at 16-16 when Sartain scored on a layup at 14:38. The Yellow Jackets would not trail the remainder of the half and pushed its lead to as many as 12 points on two occasions with the last coming when sophomore guard Michael Quiring (Brunswick) knocked down a trey at the 9:12 mark. John Carroll cut the lead down to four points at 43-39 when sophomore guard Ryan Berger scored on a layup at 3:27. BW closed the half on an 5-2 run to lead 48-41 heading into the locker-room.
The Blue Streaks cut the lead down to 52-48 when Ryan Berger knocked down a pair of free throws at the 16:26 mark. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 9-5 run to take a 61-53 when Battle knocked down a jumper at 12:32. John Carroll took its first lead of the game at 73-72 when senior guard John Cirillo split a pair of foul shots at the 4:07 mark. BW closed the game on a 16-7 run to secure the victory as it got eight of its final 12 points from the foul line. The other four points came off a Fetherolf dunk and a Battle layup.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Wednesday, January 20 when they play the second game of a men's and women's OAC doubleheader against Muskingum University in the Ursprung Gym at 4 p.m.