Box Score

The whistles that sounded early and often would lead to late game agony for the home team, as John Carroll first loss its agression, then its lead, and finally the game in suffering a 70-65 setback to Mount Union College Wednesday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

It was smooth sailing early on for John Carroll, as the Blue Streaks rolled out to a 25-18 lead over the first 14 minutes and ten seconds of the contest. However, a whistle happy officiating crew quickly took the wind out of the JCU sails.

Senior Derek Smith and freshman Maurice Haynes II would each be called for their second personal fouls within ten seconds of one another. Haynes' foul, called at the 6:26 mark of the half, put Mount Union in the double bonus.

Kyle Hubbard became the fifth Blue Streak to move into foul trouble by picking up his second with 5:11 left on the first half.

That would be the springboard Mount Union would use to take over. Taking advantage of John Carroll's inability to be aggressive, the Purple Raiders -- after making just 6-18 from the field to open the game -- made their final five field goal attempts of the half (including two three-pointers) to take a 33-29 lead into the locker room.

The visitors built upon the momentum of the 15-4 run to close the first half by scoring the first nine points of the second. JCU was called for four fouls before making its first basket of the half at the 16:43 mark -- a three-pointer by senior John Curran.

Mount Union would extend its lead to a game-high 17 points on a lay-up by Chris Switzer with 14:34 left in the game that made the score 50-33.

JCU sophomore Rudy Kirbus would start to swing momentum the other way when he made a three-pointer on the next possession. That would jump start a 21-9 run which pulled the Blue Streaks to within five points. Kirbus converted two free throws with 5:04 to play that made the score 59-54.

The Purple Raiders backcourt, however, saved the day as Switzer scored six of his game-high 25 points down the stretch to prevent the Blue Streaks from ever getting closer than four points.

In addition to Switzer's 25 points, Mount Union (7-13, 4-9 OAC) also got 11 from Dave Pellerite and ten from Chris Crawford as the Purple Raiders snapped a three-game losing streak. The win also stopped JCU's five game winning streak over Mount Union.

Along with Kirbus' 22 points, John Carroll (10-9, 7-6 OAC) received a double-double from Terry Walsh, who tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds. No other Blue Streaks scored in double figures on the evening as JCU finished with their third lowest offensive output of the year.