BEREA – The Wilmington College men’s basketball team came back from a halftime deficit to earn a key 88-81 Ohio Athletic Conference road victory at Baldwin Wallace University Saturday.
Baldwin Wallace shot 47.8 percent (33-of-69) from the field compared to 29-of-66 (43.9 percent) for Wilmington. The Quakers countered with 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from three-point distance and 20-of-25 (80.0 percent) from the free throw line. The Yellow Jackets made seven threes on 25 attempts and just 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe. Wilmington also won the rebounding battle 48-30.
DaeShawn Jackson led all scorers with 19 points while Colin Myers had a career-high 17 points to go along with seven points off the bench. Jeffery Mansfield and Kevin Lewis also scored in double figures.
“We got tremendous contributions up and down the roster,” said WC head coach K.C. Hunt. “Colin Myers had a special performance.”
Kyle Nader and Luke Schaefer both tallied 18 points for BW in defeat.
Wilmington improves to 13-6 overall and 10-4 in OAC play. The Quakers travel to Muskingum University 7 p.m. Wednesday.
BW took a 9-2 three-and-a-half minutes into the game, but Wilmington battled back to take the lead 15-13 with a Mansfield layup with 11:20 to play in the first half. Neither team led by more than four points for seven minutes until a 7-0 run gave the Yellow Jackets a 32-25 edge with three minutes to play in the half. The Quakers closed the gap to three points (34-31) with an Aaron Mullins layup to end the half.
Wilmington scored the first seven points in the second half, but a Jay Battle layup got the hosts within a basket at 38-36 with 16:27 to play. Over the next two minutes, the Quakers went on a 13-4 run capped by a Will Patrick layup to put the hosts up double digits.
Wilmington, which had not won in Berea since 2013, held that advantage the rest of the way. BW would get within four on two occasions with just over five minutes to play. Both times the Quakers scored on the next possession to prevent the lead going down further.
“Today was a tremendous team win for us,” Hunt said. “Our ability to control the glass on both ends of the floor was key.”
