Box Score

John Carroll arrived late, fell behind early, then stormed back in the second half to pull out a 77-70 victory over Baldwin-Wallace Wednesday night in an Ohio Athletic Conference match-up held in Berea, Ohio.

Inclement weather and treacherous road conditions on the Cleveland highways conspired to cause the Blue Streaks to arrive at Ursprung Gymnasium over an hour later than expected. 

Once the two teams tipped off at 8:15 p.m., the Yellow Jackets conspired to run the Blue Streaks off the floor. Baldwin-Wallace hit the first three shots attempted -- all from three point range -- to build a 9-0 lead in the opening 90 seconds.

John Carroll eventually got its legs, and used a 10-1 run to tie the contest at 10-10. From there, the first half was a back-and-forth affair, with the hosts taking a 31-30 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Baldwin-Wallace's Paul Glass scored seven consecutive points for his team to give the Yellow Jackets a 38-32 lead.

JCU answered with a 20-7 run that resulted in the Blue Streaks' first lead of the game. That happened when Brian Dandrea (Allison Park, PA, Hampton) made a three-point field goal at the 12:32 mark. When the run ended, JCU held a 52-45 lead with 10:28 remaining in the second half.

The Blue Streaks held a lead as large as ten points in the closing stages of the game, but Baldwin-Wallace would make one last burst. The Yellow Jackets pulled to within three points at 72-69 on a pair of Promis Cabill free throws with 2:53 left to play.

But the Blue Streaks would score five of the final six points of the contest thanks to a free throw by Joe Meyer (Mentor, OH, Mentor), a lay-up by Rudy Kirbus (Willoughby Hills, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius), and two made foul shots by Michael Hartnett (North Royalton, OH, Lakewood St. Edward).

John Carroll (10-4, 6-2 OAC), which won its season-high sixth consecutive game, had all 12 of its players who entered the contest score at least two points. Meyer was the leader with 17, while Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph) and Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley) each posted ten points. JCU made 6-9 from three-point range in the decisive second half.

Baldwin-Wallace (6-8, 2-5 OAC), which had its four-game winning streak snapped, was led by 13 points from Louis Tumblin and 12 from Denis Santiago. The Yellow Jackets played virtually the entire game without leading scorer Kyle Brown, who made his first two shots of the game from three-point range. He landed awkwardly after the second shot and left with an injury at the 18:24 mark of the first half.