Written by BW Athletic Communications Student Assistant Morgan Massey '26

BEREA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University men's basketball team fell to the Marietta College Pioneers in their first Ohio Athletic Conference contest of the 2025-26 season by a score of 73-57 at Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Recreation Center

BW Leaders (1-6, 0-1 OAC) 

• Junior forward AJ Pestello (Cuyahoga Falls/Stow-Munroe Falls) led the Yellow Jackets with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and just the fourth of his career

• Junior Academic All-OAC guard Titus Baskerville IV (Stow-Munroe Falls) was perfect from the free-throw line, shooting four-for-four while also dishing out a team-high five assists 

• Sophomore guard Brock Beech (Medina) totaled 11 points while having a strong defensive presence with two blocks 

• Freshman guard Josh Byers (Strongsville) had 10 points as the Yellow Jackets had four players in double-digits

• Senior guard Elijah Harden led the Pioneers with 23 points 

• Senior guard Jake Singleton had 17 points and five rebounds as one of the main contributors for the Pioneer offense

• Sophomore guard Jaiden Guerra-Howard gave out a team-leading six assists with adding nine points 

• Senior forward Mason Wisniewski contributed 12 points, two steals, eight rebounds, and two blocks

First Half (BW 38-33)

• Beech got the Yellow Jackets on the board with a layup 

• Beech and Pestello led the Brown and Gold with nine points each

• Pestello totaled a team-high four rebounds 

• BW went on an 11-0 run to take the lead during the final two minutes of the half to take a 35-31 lead

• Baskerville IV gave out four assists to lead the Yellow Jacket offense

• The Pioneers had just two points to close the last six minutes of the opening half

Second Half (Marietta 77-61)

• Freshman guard Byers (Strongsville/Strongsville) scored a team-leading eight points 

• Baskerville IV recorded two assists 

• Beech got the offense started to start the second frame, scoring a layup at 18:42 

• Marietta started the second half on a 24-10 run to take a nine-point lead, 57-48

• From there, the Pioneers outscored the Brown and Gold, 20-11, to improve to 1-0 in conference play.

Up Next 

BW will travel to Muskingum University on Saturday, December 6th, for an OAC matchup with the Muskies at 1 P.M. inside the Anne C. Steele Center. Fans can tune into FloCollege for all the action.