On a snowy rivalry night in University Heights, John Carroll's men's basketball team lost their first game.

Crosstown-rival Baldwin Wallace topped the third ranked Blue Streaks, 79-78, in front of a raucous home crowd in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The Blue & Gold (21-1, 14-1 OAC) were led by Junior Guard David Linane, who led all scorers with 21 points, and contributed 9 crucial points in the second half. Baldwin Wallace's effort was led by senior forward Zach Warner, who had a team-high 19 points. The Ohio Athletic Conference's leading scorer, sophomore guard Cam Kuhn, added 12 points and four rebounds, mainly in the second half.

The Yellow Jackets jump to 13-9 overall, and 8-7 in Ohio Athletic Conference play.

JCU started off the bout off of the quick hands of Linane, who hit a 3-pointer less than 10 seconds into the contest. Baldwin Wallace then jumped out to a 17-2 run to lead the game 21-13 halfway through the first half.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Warner and fellow forward junior Jake Fetherolf, who accumulated eight points and five rebounds early on. Fetherolf finished the evening with 12 points, and a team-high eight rebounds. Early foul trouble and seven turnovers did not help the Blue Streaks during that span.

The Blue & Gold cranked out an 18-4 run of their own. The second unit for JCU led the charge, senior Ryan Farragher and sophomore John Cirillo provided necessary buckets to tie the game at 29 apiece, as the fresh first unit returned to action.

The Blue Streaks, led by two quick baskets by senior forward Simon Kucharewicz and 10 first half points by Linane, took the momentum into halftime. The visiting Yellow Jackets held the lead into the intermission, 39-35.

JCU struck first blood, going on an 8-2 run to start off the home stretch of the contest. Kucharewicz's two-handed slam and four points from Cirillo contributed to the early advantage for JCU. BW kept the slight advantage consistently throughout the first sequence of the second half, with the continuing help of Fetherolf and senior forward Zach Warner, who added 12 points in the second half alone.

Kucharewicz tallied 14 points and 7 boards, while Linane topped his season average in points, contributing 21 points. The 17-10 run in favor of JCU pushed the game down to the final whistle.

With the score at 77-76 with 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Linane drove to the lane and misfired on a layup. In JCU's favor,  the ball was quickly put back in by Cirillo to claim a 2 point lead going into the final BW possession.

Jay Battle was called on by head coach Tom Heil to provide the points for the Yellow Jackets. Battle drove to the lane, was fouled, and sunk his two free-throws to reclaim the lead, 79-78, with 3.8 seconds remaining.

A final buzzer-beater by the Blue Streaks could not connect, and the Yellow Jackets took a win back to Berea, Ohio.

The Blue Streaks will be back in action this Saturday, Feb. 13, as they take on the eighth ranked Marietta Pioneers. The game is slated for 3:00 pm on Saturday, and can be heard on WJCU-2 at wjcu.org.