By virtue of tonight's win in the OAC championship game, Baldwin-Wallace earns the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. John Carroll will have to wait until Sunday morning to find out if they gained an at large bid into the tournament.
With 17:14 left in the second half of the OAC championship game and the score tied at 43-43, Baldwin-Wallace took control by going on a 20-9 run that would enable them to take a double digit lead into the closing minutes of the contest.
Despite trailing by 11 points (75-64) with just over two minutes remaining, the Blue Streaks would not concede the loss easily. Brandon Mimes scored from in close and Drew Salata put in back-to-back lay-ups to make the score 75-70 with 1:21 left to play.
The Blue Streaks would get as close as two points (79-77) on a Pete Moran lay-up with 17 seconds remaining but the Yellow Jackets would make three of four foul shots to close out the game for the final score of 82-77.
In the first half, the game was tied five times and there were seven lead changes. The Blue Streaks shot 7-13 (.538) from beyond the three-point arc and had a 39-35 lead at the intermission.
The second half was a different story for John Carroll, as they were just 1-6 (.167) from three-point land and 11-18 (.611) from the foul line. Baldwin-Wallace stayed hot the entire game, as the Yellow Jackets made 26-50 (.520) from the field, 5-10 (.500) from three-point range and 25-32 (.781) from the foul line.
Tori Davis led Baldwin-Wallace (20-8) with a double-double, scoring a game-high 24 points and pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Older brother Thad Davis added 18 points, while Tom Harrington (11 points, five assists) and Keith Aufmuth (11 points) also reached double figures for the Yellow Jackets, who will be making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1998.
Salata scored a team high 17 points for John Carroll (22-5) while Moran chipped in 14 points and Justin Ragor added 12 as the only other players in double figures for John Carroll.
The two Davis brothers, along with Mimes, Ragor and Muskingum’s Zach Ross were named to the all-tournament team.
BALDWIN-WALLACE 82, JOHN CARROLL 77 BALDWIN-WALLACE (20-8) Tori Davis 9-12 6-8 24; Thad Davis 5-12 8-12 18; Keith Aufmuth 4-8 2-2 11; Tom Harrington 2-6 5-6 11; Nick Meyer 2-4 0-0 6; Tyler Sekerak 3-5 0-0 6; Charod Hale 0-1 4-4 4; Brendan Schuler 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-50 25-32 82. JOHN CARROLL (22-5) Andrew Salata 8-10 1-2 17; Pete Moran 3-7 7-8 14; Justin Ragor 4-9 0-0 12; John Curran 4-7 0-0 9; Brandon Mimes 4-8 1-5 9; Chris Day 2-2 0-0 5; Michael Grogan 1-5 2-4 5; Demetrius Travis 2-4 0-0 4; Peter Koch 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 29-55 11-19 77. Baldwin-Wallace............... 35 47 - 82 John Carroll.................. 39 38 - 77 3-point goals-Baldwin-Wallace 5-10 (Nick Meyer 2-2; Tom Harrington 2-4; Keith Aufmuth 1-3; Brendan Schuler 0-1), John Carroll 8-19 (Justin Ragor 4-7; John Curran 1-3; Michael Grogan 1-4; Chris Day 1-1; Pete Moran 1-4). Fouled out--Baldwin-Wallace-None, John Carroll-Andrew Salata. Rebounds-Baldwin-Wallace 34 (Tori Davis 13), John Carroll 27 (Brandon Mimes 8). Assists-Baldwin-Wallace 9 (Tom Harrington 5), John Carroll 15 (Pete Moran 4). Total fouls-Baldwin-Wallace 19, John Carroll 25. A-1765