Derek Smith nearly had his second consecutive double-double with 15 points and a game-high nin rebounds against Muskingum
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John Carroll turned crunch time into clutch time, scoring 20 of the game's final 30 points to escape New Concord with a 73-66 victory over the host Muskingum College Fighting Muskies Wednesday evening in a showdown of third place teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
The Blue Streaks trailed for less than seven minutes of the entire contest, but needed every second to win their fourth consecutive game after a 5-6 start.
JCU led by as many as eight points in the opening half, yet needed a Maurice Haynes II jumper with 1;28 left in the opening period to take a 24-23 lead into halftime.
The Blue Streaks opened the second half on an 11-3 burst, fueled by five points from Donte Ledwell, to take a 35-26 lead. JCU would increase the lead to double digits for the first and only time of the game when Tony DeMichele made a jumper with 11:55 to play in regulation, making the score 41-31.
Muskingum would answer with back-to-back threes by Trevor Scott and Brandon Todd, giving the home team much needed life. Minutes later, an Andy Glass three-pointer gave the Muskies their first lead of the second period, 48-47, with 7:35 showing on the clock.
The Muskies still held a 56-53 advantage with 4:25 to play when John Carroll would fire off eight consecutive points to regain the lead for good. Terry Walsh began the run with a jumper, then canned a three-point field goal the next time down. Rudy Kirbus would follow with a three of his own, putting the Blue Streaks ahead by a 61-56 score with 2:41 left in the contest.
Todd answered with a three-pointer, then on the next trip down, tried to give his team the lead on another long range shot, but his miss would prove costly as Walsh hit a jumper at the other end for a 63-59 lead.
In a key sequence, Rudy Kirbus was fouled by Cory Bourquin with 41 seconds left, then was assessed a technical foul. Kirbus would hit four consecutive free throws to push the margin to eight points at 67-59. Muskingum would never get closer than five points the rest of the way.
John Carroll (9-6, 6-3 OAC) was paced by a team-high 19 points from Kirbus, who would go 10-10 from the free throw line over the final 41 seconds. Derek Smith nearly had a double-double with 15 points and a game-high nine boards. Walsh added 12 points as JCU shot 24-50 (.480) from the field for the game.
Muskingum (10-5, 5-4 OAC) was led by a game-high 21 points from Todd and 16 from Pat Byrne, who was 7-8 from the field.
