TIFFIN -- The Heidelberg University men's basketball team dominated the first five minutes and the final 15 minutes of their OAC opener against Baldwin Wallace.  Unfortunately, the visiting Yellow Jackets had built up a big enough cushion in the 20 minutes in between.  In the end, HU fell to BW, 61-60, in Seiberling Gymnasium.  

With the loss, Heidelberg falls to 1-5 on the year, including dropping their last five contests in a row. The loss to conference foe, Baldwin Wallace (3-3, 1-1), moves The Berg to 0-1 in the OAC.

In the box score, Heidelberg was paced by Tamal Watkins' 19-point effort that was supported by four rebounds and an assist from the crafty guard. Two other Berg players reached double-digit scoring as Dylan Woods added 13 and Josh Dixon chipped in with 10. 

Prince Benson led Heidelberg on the glass with eight rebounds and swatted away three blocked shots in the paint. 

Contrary to the first five games of the season, the Student Princes came out of the gates firing on all cylinders as they built out a 17-10 lead over the game's first 5:29 of play. The run was aided in large part by the early pressure from Josh Dixon and Prince Benson as the pair contributed a combined 10 points early on. As a team, HU came away with points on their first five possessions of the game and hardly missed a beat offensively. 

Ahead by seven, the Student Princes' old habits reawakened, as the team entered a lengthy scoring drought. At the same time, BW found their stride in dominating fashion, outscoring The Berg, 32-14 across the final 12:48 of the half. They led by as many as 16.  

Shooting the ball, HU shot 44% from the floor in the half, but seven costly Heidelberg turnovers and BW's 66% shooting in the first half proved to be the blistering difference.

The end of the first half seemed to put Heidelberg in an insurmountable hole, but the halftime score remained at a 13-point deficit, 42-29.   

In a concerted effort on both ends of the floor in the second half, Heidelberg erased the difference across the half's first 12:28 of play. Tamal Watkins, who had scored eight points in the half to that point, converted a difficult three-point play that tied the game at 51. 

A free throw, a 3-pointer and a layup gave the Yellow Jackets back a six point lead, but Tamal Watkins' layup trimmed that lead back to four. Two possessions later after Bailey Croft hit the front end of a 1-and-1, Dixon hit a step-back jumper that got HU within one that forced BW to call a timeout. 

The timeout proved dividends for the Yellow Jackets as they converted on two quick layups to distance themselves. 

Dylan Woods' layup shortly after trimmed the score back to within three with 43 seconds remaining. After forcing a missed shot, HU got the ball back with a chance to tie or get back within one. Unfortunately a mistimed traveling call on Josh Dixon gave BW back the ball with only 23 seconds left on the clock. 

In desperation mode, Heidelberg fouled on the inbound and sent BW's Michael Quiring to the line where he missed the first of a 1-and-1, giving Heidelberg a chance to call timeout with the ball back, still down 61-58. 

On the inbound, BW's defense took away every Heidelberg three-point option, thus forcing Tamal Watkins to hit a layup as time expired, making the final score just 61-60. 

Baldwin Wallace's offense significantly cooled off in the second half as the team shot a mediocre 25% from the floor in the final 20 minutes of action. Heidelberg held a much better 43% shooting in the second half, and both teams matched 23-for-52 in total field goals on the day. 

The Yellow Jackets held important edges in total rebounds, assists and the all important points at the end of the day. 

The team was led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Luke Schaefer (18), Anthony Mazzeo (11), and Drew Sova (11). Sova also paired his 11 points with 11 rebounds for a double-double. 

Heidelberg will get back on the road and travel to Wilmington College this Saturday, December 7. Tipoff against the Quakers is slated for 3 p.m.