Desmond Motley scored a career-high 12 points, but was one of seven Blue Streaks to foul out of a 102-97 loss to Ohio Northern
Double overtime thrillers are often labeled classics. The John Carroll men's basketball team may choose other less complimentary adjectives to describe Saturday's 102-97 loss to Ohio Northern University in an Ohio Athletic Conference match-up held at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
A total of 75 personal fouls were called and 117 free throws were attempted over the course of the 50 minutes of play in which nine players – seven for John Carroll and two for Ohio Northern – fouled out.
The losses suffered through disqualification was not equitable in quantity or production, as the seven John Carroll players who fouled out contributed 64 of the Blue Streaks 97 points, while the two Polar bears who exited the contest early contributed 10 of the team's 102 points.
“We always have a Plan A and Plan B,” said JCU head coach Mike Moran. “Today, we had to go to Plans X,Y, and Z.”
To the credit of the Polar Bears, the visitors twice forced extra time onto the clock by making key baskets in the waning seconds of both regulation and the first overtime.
The first big break came in the final 20 seconds of the second half. After a mad scramble following a missed shot by Ohio Northern, Kyle Meyer found a wide open Kurtis Brown in the corner, and Brown buried a three-pointer with nine seconds left to the game at 80-80. JCU was unable to get a shot off.
The host Blue Streaks twice had three-point leads in the first overtime, but Kyle Gehle would score on a lay-up and drew a foul with 22 seconds left. He would make the free throw to tie the contest at 90-90. Again, the Blue Streaks were unable to get a shot off, forcing a second overtime.
The Polar Bears scored the first five points in the second overtime. Following a lay-up by Meyer on ONU's first possession, Gehle hit a three-point shot with 4:02 remaining to put ONU up by five with 4:02 remaining. JCU never could catch up after that, drawing only within two after Blue Streak senior John Curran made a lay-up with twelve seconds remaining. Brown and Gehle were 3-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the win for the Polar Bears.
ONU juniors Loudan Hammersmith and Jake Cannan also fouled out with five a piece.
The Blue Streaks started the game strong, with Walsh scoring the first points of the game. However, foul trouble for JCU started early, with Smith receiving two fouls in the first 1:05 of the game.
With 10:23 remaining, DiSanto hit a three-pointer to make the score 26-13 and give JCU a thirteen point lead, the largest any team had in the game.
Just as the Blue Streaks looked to be pulling away, the Polar Bears roared back by scoring seven of the final ten points of the half. Going into halftime, John Carroll held a six-point advantage at 44-38.
The second half looked again as if the Blue Streaks would command, but things took a turn for the worse after the 17:16 mark. With JCU up by seven, DiSanto received a foul, and then a technical foul that took him out of the game. ONU's Gehle made all four free throw attempts, making the score 49-46, still in favor of the Blue Streaks.
ONU and JCU would continue to go back and forth for the remainder of the second half. With forty-nine seconds remaining, Curran would make a pair of free throws to put the Blue Streaks up by three, setting up Brown's late game heroics for Ohio Northern.
Ohio Northern (7-3, 4-1 OAC), which won its third consecutive game, went 48-67 from the free throw line, making three more free throws than the Blue Streaks attempted.
The Polar Bears had four players score in double figures, with Gehle leading all scorers with a career-high 37 points. Gehle was 23-27 from the free throw line to go along with six field goals, including two three pointers. Brown had 17 points (4-8 from the field – all beyond the arc) off the bench, while fellow non starters Meyer had 14 points and Kyle Whitney added 11.
John Carroll (3-4, 1-2 OAC), which dropped to 1-3 at home this season, was paced by Rudy Kirbus, who led the Blue Streaks with 18 points. Kirbus was JCU's most prolific free throw shooter with 10 makes in 12 trips to the line. Thompson (a career-high 14), Smith (13), Motley (a career-high 12) and DiSanto (10) were the other JCU players to score in the double figures.
