Men's Basketball

The Pregame Notes -- The Baldwin-Wallace College Yellow Jacket men's basketball team will look to win its third straight game when it travels to Westerville to open OAC action against the defending OAC and NCAA Division III national champion Otterbein Cardinals.

The Yellow Jackets enter this game with a 3-1 record following a 76-62 win over Bethany College of West Virginia on December 4 in Berea. To date, B-W split a pair of games and placed second at the season-opening Mt. St. Joseph College Tournament in Cincinnati and then beat Thiel (Pa.) College last Saturday in Greenville, Pennsylvania.

The Cardinals enter this game with a 3-2 mark following an OAC opening 92-77 win at Heidelberg College on Wednesday in Tiffin. To date, Otterbein has beaten Medaille (N.Y.) College and Roanoke (Va.) College and Heidelberg and lost to Tri-State (Ind.) University and Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design.

The Baldwin-Wallace vs. Otterbein All-Time Series -- This is the 79th meeting between Baldwin-Wallace and Otterbein in men's basketball. Otterbein leads the all-time series, 44-34, including three straight wins and a 90-80 victory in Berea in the last meeting between the two schools. B-W's last win came in 2000-2001 when it beat Otterbein, 80-75, on December 6, 2000 in Berea.

Last Year in Berea: Otterbein -- 90, Baldwin-Wallace -- 80, -- The Yellow Jackets dropped their third straight game overall and second in 2001-2002 to Otterbein with a 90-80 loss at the Rike Center in Westerville. Despite the loss, current senior three-time All-OAC forward Shawn McCormick (Massillon Jackson) led B-W with 18 points and current sophomore forward Thad Davis (Elyria/ Open Door School) had 15 markers.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets -- The Yellow Jackets are led by Shawn McCormick, 6'0" senior guard Jon Carroll (Berea/ Midpark), Thad Davis, 5'10" sophomore point guard Tom Harrington (North Royalton/ Parma Holy Name) and 6'3" junior forward Eric Reminder (Brunswick).

In B-W's Last Game on Wednesday, December 4 versus Bethany (W.Va.) in Berea: B-W -- 76, Bethany --62 -- Jon Carroll scored 17 points, passed for 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds as the B-W defeated Bethany (W.Va.) College, 76-62, at the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in Berea. It was B-W's second straight win and the Yellow Jackets improved to 3-1 overall. All five Yellow Jacket starters scored in double figures. In addition to Carroll, Tom Harrington had 14 points, Thad Davis 10 and both Shawn McCormick and Eric Reminder each had 10 markers.

In the first half, B-W led by as many as eight points, at 24-16 with 10:30 left when freshman guard Keith Aufmuth scored on layup. B-W also led at halftime, 39-35. In the second half, Bethany came back to tie the score at 44-44 with 15:49 left in the game before B-W outscored the Bison 30-10 over the next 12 minutes to build its biggest advantage of the game at 74-54 with 2:59 left when Davis dunked it.

The Yellow Jacket Statistical Leaders -- Shawn McCormick tops the team in scoring at 18.5 points per game. He is also second in rebounding at 5.8 rpg., shoots 53.1 percent from the floor (26 of 49) and 93.8% from the foul line (15 of 16) and is tied for second with nine steals. Thad Davis is second at 17.3 ppg., first in rebounding at 8.0 rpg., second in field goal shooting at 62.8% (27 of 43) and first in blocked shots with seven. Jon Carroll is third in scoring at 14.5 ppg., tied for first with nine three-pointers and first with 18 assists. Eric Reminder and Tom Harrington are tied for fourth in scoring at 10.0 ppg. Reminder is also third in rebounding at 4.8 rpg. and is first in field goal shooting at 63.3% (19 of 30). Harrington is second with 12 assists and first with 11 steals and tied for first with Carroll with nine treys.

Scouting the Cardinals -- The Cardinals will most likely start 5'11" sophomore guard Tony Borghese, 6'5" junior forward Aaron Minister, 6'7" junior forward Phil Susi, 6'5" junior forward Mo Ross and 6'5" sophomore forward Scott Hadley. Off the bench, look for Otterbein to play 6'2" junior guard Kyle Walton and 6'7" freshman center Tyler Ousley as well as a number of others.

In Otterbein's Last Game on Wednesday, December 4 versus Heidelberg in Tiffin: Otterbein -- 92, Heidelberg -- 77 -- The Cardinals opened OAC play with a 92-77 win against Heidelberg College at the Seiberling Gymnasium in Tiffin. Otterbein was led by Mo Ross with a game-high 26 points, and he was joined in double figures by Scott Hadley with 19 points, Kyle Walton had 15, Tony Borghese had 14 and Aaron Minister with 13. A key in the game for the Cardinals was canning 63 percent of their field goals (34 of 54), 77.8 percent of their treys (seven of nine) and 83.3% of their foul shots (17 of 21).

The Cardinal Statistical Leaders -- Tony Borghese leads the team in scoring with 18.8 points per game and has the most assists with 25. He also cans 57.4 percent from the floor. Scott Hadley is third in scoring at 12.2 ppg. and leads the team with an average of 2.4 steals per game, and Aaron Minister averges 9.4 ppg. and leads the team with 6.6 rpg., 10 steals and nine blocked shots. Mo Ross is second in scoring with 17.4 ppg. and second in rebounding with 6.0 rpg. He shoots 53.8 percent from the field (33 of 65) with 12 three-pointers.

Bankson Nears 600 -- Veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Steve Bankson has 598 career victories and is two shy of the 600-win plateau. Bankson had 49 wins at the high school level, 232 at Lorain County Community College and a school-record 317 at B-W. He is the winningest men's basketball coach of all-time at the College.

McCormick is Ninth All-Time in Scoring at B-W -- Senior forward Shawn McCormick scored 10 points in a 76-62 win against Bethany (W.Va.) on Wednesdayreamin in ninth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,419 points. Next up for McCormick is Terry Allerton (1964-68) who is eighth with 1,499 points.