Despite being ranked second in the nation at the beginning of the season, even the most ardent supporter of the Blue Streaks would have considered an undefeated campaign a pipe dream.

But those same supporters would have not envisioned the first loss of the season coming in Alliance, and a self-inflicted one at that as cold shooting sunk John Carroll in a 67-62 loss to upstart Mount Union Wednesday night.

Box Score

The Blue Streaks had season-low shooting percentages in both field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage, and suffered a third consecutive subpar effort from the free throw line in losing their first regular season game since December 20, 2008.

John Carroll trailed on two occasions in the first half, only to eventually take a 30-27 lead at the intermission. But the first half numbers proved to be an omen, as JCU made just 1-6 from the charity stripe and 3-11 from three-point range, and forced just five turnovers from the host Purple Raiders.

Mount Union was bolstered by their first effort and hung right with John Carroll in the second. Despite building a seven-point lead (34-27) in the opening minutes of the period, the Blue Streaks could not sustain the effort and would miss 26 of their final 32 shots from the field. 

For a 15-minute stretch starting at the 16:46 mark, neither team led by more than three points and the score was tied five times, the last of which occured at 55-55 when Matt Crozier scored on a lay-up with 4:55 left.

That was when JCU would go ice cold at the most inopportune time, missing five consecutive shots including two lay-ups. In the meantime, Sam King would bury a three and Ben Hodkinson added another to give Mount Union a 61-55 advantage with 1:34 left.

JCU would pull to within 61-60 When Maurice Haynes made a lay-up and Rudy Kirbus followed with a three-pointer, but that would be as close as the Streaks would get. Uncharacteristic turnovers down the stretch and 6-6 free throw shooting from Hodkinson and Dave Pellerite would ice the game for Mount Union.

Jimmy Wood scored a game-high 22 points and Hodkinson added 16 for Mount Union (4-2, 2-1 OAC), which shot 13-27 (.481) from the field in the decisive second half.

John Carroll (6-1, 2-1 OAC) was led by Crozier with 13 points and Haynes with ten, but was done in by 22-69 shooting from the field (.319), 6-26 (.231) from three point range and 12-23 (.522) from the free throw line.