Going down to the wire has been the tale of the last two games for the John Carroll men's basketball team. Except, both games have ended in losses.

Four days after falling by one point to Capital in a barnburner, the Blue Streaks were stung 82-77 by the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets in Ursprung Gymnasium.

The historic rivalry stayed true to its core as it became the 91st game to be decided by single digits in the 123 meeting between the two teams. Not even a double-digit deficit could intimidate the Blue Streaks with clawing their way back into the game.

JCU was down one point, 75-74, with 1:06 seconds remaining in thanks to a layup by senior Jimmy Berger. But BW would score the next five points to take an 80-74 advantage.

As the game wound down, Jimmy Berger came up clutch for the Blue Streaks again, draining a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 80-77. 

Coming out of a timeout, BW's Michael Quiring answered with a layup two seconds later. Those would be the final points for either team.

The fact that the Blue Streaks were in that position was impressive, considering JCU was down 10 with 3:52 remaining. Over the remainder of the game, Jimmy Berger (8 points) and Connor Fitzgerald (9 points) accounted for all 17 of the Blue and Gold's points. 

John Carroll was down by double figures for the final nine minutes of the game. They kept pushing to inch away at the game but Baldwin Wallace continued to remain ahead. Not even a 22-point performance from Jimmy Berger and 16 points from Ryan Berger could spring JCU ahead.

The Blue Streaks led 21-20 with 11:22 remaining in the first half but the Yellow Jackets outscored the visiting team 29-18 as both teams went into the locker room. Six Yellow Jackets scored 10 points or more and Drew Sova recorded a double-double.

On the stat sheet, JCU was outrebounded 43-38 and outscored 36-24 in the paint. They did take better care of the ball than Baldwin Wallace holding the 9-19 advantage in turnovers and 10-5 in steals. 

John Carroll (11-5, 4-5 OAC) has put together four streaks so far this season - five wins to start, followed by three straight losses, followed by six consecutive victories, and now back-to-back defeats.

Baldwin Wallace improved to 10-6 overall and 6-3 in league play with tonight's win.

The Blue and Gold will look to put their two-game losing streak behind them as they host Muskingum this Saturday at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. JCU will also seek to avenge their earlier season loss to the Fighting Muskies.