John Carroll University scored 11 of the game's final 14 points to knock off the College of Wooster, 71-63, in a battle of defending conference champions staged at the DeCarlo Varsity Center Sunday afternoon. 

Box Score

With the score tied at 60, JCU sophomore Matt Crozier (Philadelphia, PA, LaSalle College) converted a three-point play with 2:06 remaining in regulation. The Blue Streaks pressed on the in-bounds play and senior Brian Dandrea (Allison Park, PA, Hampton) came up with a steal and dished the ball to fellow senior Tyler Kirsch (Gates Mills, OH, Hawken), who dropped in a lay-up for a five-point advantage. 

Crozier and Kirsch then added lay-ups on the next two John Carroll possessions to push the Blue Streaks' lead to 69-60 with 53 seconds left.
 
In the first regular season meeting between the two schools since January 4, 1988, the #2 ranked John Carroll Blue Streaks from the Ohio Athletic Conference survived their coldest shooting game of the young season to hold off the #9 ranked Fighting Scots from the North Coast Athletic Conference. 

John Carroll started out hot, as Crozier scored the first nine points of the contest for the home team in building a 9-4 lead in the opening four minutes. 

The Blue Streaks would extend their lead to the largest either team would enjoy on a pair of Kirsch free throws with 10:41 left in the opening half. 

Soon after, the Fighting Scots began to find their legs, and used a 21-7 run over the next five minutes to wrest the lead away from John Carroll. Matt Fegan's three-point field goal with 5:28 showing on the clock staked Wooster with what would be its largest lead of the game at 29-25. 

The hosts had one last answer – an 8-2 surge to end the half. Chris Zajac (Brecksville, OH, Brecksville-Broadview Heights) lay-up with 12 ticks left on the first half clock gave JCU a 33-31 lead heading to the locker room. 

There would be four ties in the second half but just two lead changes. Wooster's Nathan Balch canned a jumper with 6:59 to play to give the Fighting Scots a 49-48 advantage, but John Carroll reclaimed the upper hand on the very next trip down the floor thanks to a Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph) lay-up. 

The game was tied at 49, 56, 58 and 60 before the Blue Streaks were able to pull away late. 

John Carroll (4-0), which won its 19th consecutive regular season game dating back to last season, was paced by 18 points and 10 rebounds from Crozier. Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley) added 11 points, seven assists and four steals as JCU scored a season-low 71 points and made just four three-point field goals after averaging 14 over its first three games of the year. 

Wooster (2-3), which was forced into committing 26 turnovers, was led by Bryan Wickliffe who tallied a game-high 22 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line.