By Athletic Communications Student Assistant Joe Meyer '24

BEREA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team hosted La Roche (Pa.) University in a non-conference contest in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. The Yellow Jackets never trailed, taking down the Redhawks 82-60, to head into the holiday break on a winning note.

BW Team Leaders (5-5)

• The Yellow Jackets were led by sophomore guard Ashton Price (Bay Village/Bay) and his game-high 18 points.
• Senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Jake Snyder (Stow/Archbishop Hoban) added 15 points for the Yellow Jackets.
• Senior forward Jackson Simmons (Stow/Archbishop Hoban) shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, tallying 12 points and 6 rebounds.
• Senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC guard Anthony Mazzeo (North Canton/Massillon Jackson) added 12 points and 5 rebounds.
• Led by sophomore forward Zolton Nagy's (Lakewood/St. Edward) game-high 7 rebounds, the Yellow Jackets dominated the boards, out-rebounding La Roche 44-29.

La Roche Team Leaders (4-6)

• Sophomore forward Isaiah Thomas and junior forward Joe Pipilo recorded 11 points each to lead the Redhawks.
• Pipilo added a team-high 6 rebounds.
• Senior guard Devon Darrell added 10 points for La Roche.

First Half (BW 43-27)

• Back-to-back three-pointers from Snyder forced an early La Roche timeout as BW raced out to a 14-3 lead.
• BW's hot start didn't stop there, and Mazzeo found Price for an easy layup to extend the advantage to 32-15 at the 7:48 mark.
• La Roche responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to single digits with 3:42 left in the half.
• Mazzeo's driving layup capped off an 11-3 BW run to end the half, as the Yellow Jackets took a commanding 16-point lead (43-27) into the locker room.
• Snyder led the way with 10 first half points, while Simmons and Price added 8 points apiece.

Second Half (82-60 BW)

• Fueled by 8 points from Price in the opening 2:47 of the second half, the Yellow Jackets picked up right where they left off, extending the lead to 60-40 with 15:55 to play.
• La Roche cut the BW lead to 15 (68-53) with just 10 minutes to play, but it was as close as the Redhawks would get the rest of the way.
• Back-to-back buckets from Simmons gave the Yellow Jackets a 79-57 lead with 5:10 remaining.
• A season-high 16 players saw action for BW in the second half, as the Yellow Jackets rolled to a 82-60 victory.
• Price led both teams with 10 second-half points.

BW returns to the court on Thursday, December 29 as they host Trine (Ind.) University in the first game of a men's and women's tripleheader. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center and will be followed by both semifinals of the women's BW Invitational.