|
| Baldwin Wallace athletics photo |
Baldwin Wallace and John Carroll, archrivals in the Cleveland suburbs, met on each team’s floor on Wednesday night and each game resulted in an upset. Meanwhile, Hope did the same thing to the Calvin men in D-III’s biggest rivalry of all. More in Wednesday’s recap.
Anthony Mazzeo could not be stopped, and the Baldwin Wallace men took full advantage as the Yellow Jackets knocked off No. 6 John Carroll 99-94 on Wednesday night. In front of a packed house of 951, Mazzeo shot 14-for-20 and racked up 39 points to help lift Baldwin Wallace to 11-12, 7-9 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
It was just the second loss on the season for John Carroll, BW’s Cleveland suburban rival, although JCU needed overtime to defeat Ohio Northern on Saturday.
BW led by 21 points early in the second half before John Carroll rallied to cut the lead to two. The Yellow Jackets went 7-for-8 from the foul line in the final 90 seconds to seal the victory.
The women’s game was nearly a mirror image, as John Carroll improved to 13-11, 7-9 OAC with an 89-86 road win against No. 12 Baldwin Wallace. Baldwin Wallace (20-3, 13-3) had the high scorer in this one as well, as Bella Vaillant shot 8-for-12 from the floor en route to 27 points and eight rebounds. But Halle Landies scored 20 for the Blue Streaks. BW cut a 16-point deficit to eight in the third quarter with a 12-4 run, and Vaillant later hit a 3 to cut the JCU lead to 78-74. But Jaylen Hoffmann hit a jumper to return the lead to nine, allowing JCU to hold on when a last-second three attempt went awry.
In The Rivalry, being played for the 209th time between Hope and Calvin in men’s basketball, Hope avenged a loss from earlier in the season and snapped No. 11 Calvin’s 12-game winning streak, defeating the Knights 65-57 on the road in front of a crowd of 3,986. The Flying Dutchmen shot just 1-for-17 from outside the arc, but were dominant inside the paint, scoring 40 of their 65 points in the lane. Hope improved to 15-9, 9-4 MIAA, while Calvin fell to 20-4, 12-1.
In other men’s action, Montclair State handed Rowan its second loss in three games, wrapping up its New Jersey Athletic Conference schedule with a 104-100 overtime win. The Red Hawks wrapped up the third seed in the conference tournament, improving to 21-4, 15-3 in NJAC play. Rowan (20-5, 16-2) is the No. 1 seed and Stockton (21-4, 15-3) the No. 2 seed based on a head-to-head sweep of Montclair. Steven Breeman scored a game-high 23 points and Mike Jackson recorded his first career double-double in the victory.
Sixth Street rivals in No. 18 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer each won on Wednesday night, as CMS defeated Redlands 79-64 and PP topped Caltech 67-57. Josh Angle scored 25 points for Claremont, while five players scored between 10 and 12 points for Pomona.
Dominick Dao hit a 3-pointer eight minutes into the game and Eastern Connecticut never trailed as the Warriors won 81-75 at rival Western Connecticut. It’s the fourth consecutive win for Eastern (13-12, 10-6 Little East) and the seventh in the past eight games. Kendall Robinson had 22 points and 10 rebounds as Western fell to 21-3, 12-3. Tyreice Woods, Jalen Williams and Dao teamed to score 57 points on 17-of-36 field goal shooting. The trio converted nine of 19 3-point field goals and were 14-of-20 from the foul line.
Washington & Jefferson trailed by as many as 24 points in the first half but roared back to defeat Geneva 82-80 and clinch the top seed in the upcoming Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament. Kyran Mitchell scored a team-high 21 points to lead the Presidents (18-6, 15-4 PAC) to their fourth consecutive win, snapping the Golden Tornadoes’ four-game winning streak. Lyle Tipton scored 27 to lead Geneva (16-8, 13-6). After Geneva took a 40-16 lead, W&J scored the next 14 points to get back within range before halftime.
Elsewhere in women’s basketball, No. 1 Christopher Newport captured a perfect regular season for the second consecutive campaign, as the Captains defeated Mary Washington 74-49. Sondra Fan hit her 200th career 3-pointer, becoming just the second CNU women’s basketball player to reach the milestone, following the legendary Chelsie Schweers, the 2011 D3hoops.com women’s basketball Player of the Year. UMW fell to 19-5.
UW-Platteville remained in contention for the sixth and final playoff spot in the WIAC, as the Pioneers put up a huge fourth quarter to get past No. 17 UW-Whitewater, 61-52. Ella Mackiewicz scored 23 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, and added nine rebounds on the night. Whitewater (19-6, 10-4) fell into a first-place tie with Stout in the WIAC, while Platteville (11-14, 4-10) remained tied for sixth with UW-River Falls.
Keystone moved above .500 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference, and it did so in large part thanks to Kwashanti Holmes. The freshman recorded a triple-double as she scored 43 points, added 14 rebounds and 10 steals in a 104-96 win against Clarks Summit. Keystone improved to 10-14, 9-8, while Clarks Summit fell to 15-9, 12-5.