Box Score
John Carroll clawed its way to a halftime lead, but could not make it stand up as hot shooting Ohio Northern pulled away for an 82-70 win over the Blue Streaks in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest Saturday in Ada, Ohio.
The Blue Streaks' defensive pressure worked to the tune of 23 forced turnovers, but the Polar Bears overcame that negative statistic by making 28 of its 52 shots from the field (.538), including 14 of 24 (.583) in the decisive second half.
It was John Carroll that out of the gates quickly, taking an 8-3 lead when Tyler Kirsch converted a turnover into a fastbreak lay-up at the 18:23 mark.
Ohio Northern would settle in, however, and steadily worked their way back into the lead. Once there, the Polar Bears would push their advantage to as many as nine points. When Kurtis Brown dropped in a lay-up with 8:21 to play in the opening galf, the host squad led by a 30-21 score.
The Blue Streaks would spend the remainder of the period fighting their way back. When Maurice Haynes buried a jumper with 1:44 left on the clock, he put the Blue Streaks back ahead, 38-37.
JCU would take a 40-39 advantage into the locker room despite making just two of its 11 three-point attempts.
The cold shooting from beyond the arc would spill across the entire floor for JCU in the second half, but the Blue Streaks made a valiant effort to stay in the contest. In fact, a Kirsch lay-up with 11:43 to play gave John Carroll would would be its final lead of the game at 53-51.
From there it would be all Ohio Northern. A three-point play by Brown with 11:17 on the clock jump started a 12-0 Polar Bears run that put the hosts ahead 63-53.
JCU would close to within 64-58 with 6:58 left on a three-point play by Chris Zajac, but another big run -- this time a 9-2 burst -- would push the advantage into double figures. John Carroll was uanble to reduce the deficit back into the single numbers the rest of the way.
Ohio Northern (8-1, 4-0 OAC), which remained alone in sole possession of first place with the win, was led by 22 points from Kyle Meyer. Ezra Bradshaw added 14 while Brown and Sam Bastian each pitched in 11 points on a day in which the Polar Bears honored former head basketball coach Joe Campoli and his family with the dedication of Joe and Margaret Campoli Court.
John Carroll (4-4, 2-2 OAC), which dropped its second consecutive game, was led by 14 points from Haynes and 13 from Corey Shontz.
