Junior Thomas Phillips (Kenton) had his second double-double in the past three games, but a 15-1 second half run lifted Baldwin Wallace to an 80-67 men's basketball victory over Ohio Northern on Wednesday evening at Urspring Gymnasium.
The Polar Bears (6-14 overall, 2-11 Ohio Athletic Conference) had four players in double figures, led by freshman C.J. Napier (Miamisburg/Bishop Fewnwick) with 19 points.
Phillips finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds and senior Caleb Bryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) and Brandon Waugh (Columbus/Northland) had 10 points each.
The Yellow Jackets (12-8, 8-5) were led by Drew Sova with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Waugh knocked down one of two free throws to pull ONU within 55-53 with 12:16 left in the game.
But BWU followed that with a 15-1 run over the next 4:29 to push its lead to 70-54 with 7:47 to go.
Ohio Northern got off to a great start, using a 15-4 run to break a 9-all tie and take a 24-13 lead just eight minutes into the game.
A basket by Phillips and a 3-pointer by freshman Landen Long (Mason) extended the Polar Bear lead to 40-26 with 7:01 left in the first half.
Baldwin Wallace chipped away and got a layup by Sova just ahead of the horn to trim the deficit to 44-39 at intermission.
The Yellow Jackets took the lead for good when a 3-pointer by Luke Schaefer capped an 13-1 run and made it 48-45 with 18:02 left in the game.
ONU made 22-of-54 field goals for 40.7% and was 4 of 17 from three for 23.5%, while BW made 30 of 62 from the field for 48.4% and made 11 of 34 from beyond the arc for 32.4%.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday with a 3 pm contest at No. 16-ranked Marietta in the second game of a women's/men's double header at Ban Johnson Fieldhouse.