By making 25 of its first 37 shots from the field, the #2 ranked John Carroll men's basketball team used a sizzling start as the catalyst for a 96-73 victory over Baldwin-Wallace College Wednesday night in Berea.

Box Score

In what was the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both teams, John Carroll picked up its 17th consecutive regular season OAC victory dating back to last season, and earned its 26th victory in the last 27 games.

Baldwin-Wallace was able to stay with John Carroll early on, and held a 9-8 lead through the first three minutes. But JCU took the lead for good at 11-9 when Rudy Kirbus drained a three-pointer at the 16:26 mark.

The Blue Streak lead grew to as many as 17 points before John Carroll took a 52-37 lead into halftime.

The rout would be on as John Carroll scored 26 of the first 35 points of the second half. When Tommy Lavelle dropped in a lay-up with 13:04 showing on the clock, he put the Blue Streaks ahead 78-46.

John Carroll led by as many as 34 points before settling upon the final 23-point margin.

Corey Shontz led a quartet of players in double figures in double figures for John Carroll (5-0, 1-0 OAC). In scoring his 17 points, Shontz was 7-11 from the field and 3-5 from three-point range. Kirbus scored 15 points, Maurice Haynes added 13 and Lavelle chpiied in ten as JCU finished the game 38-63 (.603) from the field and 10-19 (.520) from three-point range.

Baldwin-Wallace (2-3, 0-1 OAC) was paced by a game-high 19 points from Kyle Brown. The Yellow Jackets had a rough shooting night in their own building, going 26-60 (.433) from the field and 4-21 (.190) from long range.