The Yellow Jackets men’s basketball team’s 2017-18 season came to a close after a loss against John Carroll in the semifinals of the OAC tournament. Baldwin Wallace finished with a record of 17-8 (11-7 in conference play).

To recap, the Yellow Jackets rounded out their regular season with a convincing 95-70 victory over Wilmington on Senior Day. A 46-28 lead at halftime allowed BW to cruise to a victory where senior Jake Fetherolf tallied his OAC-leading eleventh double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Cam Kuhn added 18 points which helped him move into sixth place in the all-time scoring list with 1,846 points for his career.

On February 20, the Yellow Jackets had another first half explosion against Mount Union in the first round of the OAC tournament. The Jackets were up 44-28 at halftime, and their lead never got below 11 for the reminder of the game. In the 84-60 win, BW shot 50% from three-point range (15-30) and Jay Battle recorded a career-high 29 points. Tyler Colombo and Kyle Nader both contributed 7 points off the bench.

In the second round of the OAC tournament, John Carroll was the team to get off to a hot start and BW was unable to close the gap. The final from University Heights was 92-72. Cam Kuhn scored 17 points in his last game as a Yellow Jacket, which moved him into fourth place on the all-time scoring list (1,881 points).

Jake Fetherolf was yet again a beast on the boards and recorded his OAC-best twelfth double-double of the season. Junior Jay Battle tallied 15 points, which helped him top 1,000 points for his career.

In a postgame interview with Brendan Gulick, Head Coach Tom Heil said, “It’s incredibly disappointing if I’m going to be honest because of how much I believe in this group.” He went on to say, “We’re certainly going to miss them (the seniors). It stings because this team, when we play well, can play in the sweet 16, we can win a couple NCAA tournament games and then who knows.”

The future is bright for the Yellow Jackets, and Heil is looking forward to recruiting the “right type of guys that fit what we’re all about” and wants to get guys who “love basketball, want to work, and have a blue-collar attitude.”