Box Score

In a battle of two teams with length winning streaks, John Carroll rode the hot shooting of Chris Zajac and Rudy Kirbus in the second half for a come-from-behind 83-75 victory over #5 ranked Capital University Saturday at the DeCarlo Varsity Center in University Heights, Ohio.

The victory not only extended John Carroll's winning streak to ten games, but also enabled the Blue Streaks to grab share of the Ohio Athletic Conference lead which they now share with these same Crusaders.

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Like two heavyweights, both teams traded big blows in the opening 20 minutes. John Carroll opened the contest by making four of its first five shots for a 9-4 lead. Capital countered with a 9-2 run, and took a 13-11 lead on a lay-up by Ryan Wood.

The Blue Streaks struck back with a 7-1 burst, capped by a three-point basket by Corey Shontz., to take an 18-14 advantage The visiting Crusaders, however, appeared to land a haymaker when they scored 14 of the next 17 points. A lay-up by Casey Brown put Capital up by seven points, 28-21, with 7:50 remaining in the opening period.

JCU spent the rest of the half chasing down the Crusaders, but could not catch them as Capital took a 40-35 lead into the intermission.

The second half started with several jabs by the defending OAC champion Crusaders. With several post players in foul trouble for the Blue Streaks, Capital worked the inside well and would build upon its lead steadily. But it was a Nate Stahl three-pointer at the 15:08 mark that put the visitors ahead by their largest margin, 51-42.

It was at this point that John Carroll negated its size disadvantage with its speed advantage. After Michael Hartnett hit a three-point field goal to narrow the deficit to six points (51-45), Zajac and Kirbus would combine to score the next 23 points for John Carroll.

First, it was Zajac hitting his first shot from the field -- a three-pointer -- in the second half at the 14:10 mark to make the score was 53-48 in favor of Capital.  Kirbus then followed with a steal, after which he was fouled going to the basket. He made both free throws to cut the Crusaders lead to three.

Brian Dandrea stole the inbounds pass and fed Zajac, who slashed to the basket for an easy two points. Now trailing by one, John Carroll would take its first second half lead when kirbus rebounded a Capital miss and got the ball to Zajac, who drove the ball down the lane and made a lay-up for a 54-53 John Carroll advantage.

After Capital called a time out, Kirbus would follow a Crusaders' long range miss with a three-point make. Zajac scored the next four points on lay-ups, both of which were the direct results of his steals off inbounds passes. In the span of less than four minutes, JCU had turned a nine-point deficit into an eight-point lead thanks to a 19-2 run.

The Crusaders regrouped however, and would cut into the John Carroll lead. A lay-up by Brown at the 6:42 mark trimmed the deficit two two points at 68-66. Moments later, Brown had a pair of free throws which gave Capital the opportunity to tie, but he missed both.

Those misses proved costly, as Tyler Kirsch would break the Kirbus-Zajac run by drilling a three-pointer to put John Carroll on top by a 71-66 score with 5:51 remainining in regulation.

Despite the time left in the game, John Carroll was able to keep Capital in check the rest of the way, never letting the lead dip below five points. Kirbus and Dandrea were a combined 5-6 from the free throw line in the final minute, and both Kirsch and Kirbus made steals in the final 20 seconds to seal the victory.

John Carroll (14-4, 10-2 OAC) was not suprisingly led by 23 points from Kirbus and 16 from Zajac. JCU was 16-32 (.500) from the field in the second half and 11-15 (.733) from the free throw line. The ten victories are the most by a Blue Streak team since the 2004-05 edition won the first 13 games of that season.

Ryan Wood of Capital (17-2, 10-2 OAC) matched Kirbus with 23 points, while Stahl added 17. brown and Ross Niekamp both added 10 points for the Crusaders, who had their 11-game winning streak snapped by this loss.

 

Nine three pointers were hit for the Blue Streaks including four off the bench. The Blue Streaks only missed five free throws (14-19) while Capital missed twelve (11-23).