Tyler Kirsch had a career-high ten rebounds against Wilmington, including nine in the first half
Box Score
John Carroll delivered what amounted to a first round knockout in Saturday's battle of Ohio Athletic Conference heavyweights, scoring the first 17 points of the contest to rout first-place Wilmington, 92-66, at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
Click here for video highlights of this JCU victory.
This was a game that had all the makings of turning into high scoring and tightly contested affair. John Carroll came into the game with the second highest scoring offense in the OAC at 80.3 ppg, while Wilmington owned the third best scoring offense in the league at 78.3 ppg.
The fight was almost over as soon as it began. JCU shut out Wilmington for the first 5:56 of the contest while the Blue Streaks made seven of their first eight attempts from the field. The offense was keyed by Brian Dandrea (Allison Park, PA, Hampton), who buried three three-point field goals in the opening four minutes.
John Carroll was ahead 17-0 when, on its tenth possession of the game, Wilmington got on the scoreboard. Kevin Colson hit two free throws at the 14:44 mark of the first half. The Quakers did not hit their first shot from the field until 12:52 in the first half when Antonio Bowman connected on a mid-range jumper.
The Blue Streaks led by as many as 26 points in the first half before taking a 45-25 lead into the break
JCU built its largest lead of the game at the 7:48 mark of the second half, when Matt Crozier (Philadelphia, PA, LaSalle College) completed a three-point play to make the score 79-48.
In winning its season-high seventh consecutive game, John Carroll (11-4, 7-2 OAC) was paced by six players in double figures. Dandrea led the way with 17, while Crozier, Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph), Rudy Kirbus (Willoughby Hills, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius), Joe Meyer (Mentor, OH, Mentor), and Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley) all chipped in with ten points. Haynes completed a double-double with 12 boards, while Tyler Kirsch (Gates Mills, OH, Hawken) pulled down a career-high ten.
JCU was 31-60 (.517) from the field, including 11-22 (.500) from three-point range.
Wilmington (11-5, 7-2 OAC), which was playing without leading scorer Brandon Rogers, was led by 15 points from Justin Gaines and 13 from Kerry Wilkinson. The Quakers were 3-18 (.167) from beyond the arc.
