Box Score

Heroics by a number of Blue Streaks in the final 73 seconds, most notably Rudy Kirbus (Willoughby Hills, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius), carried John Carroll to a 90-87 victory over Capital University in the championship game of the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Saturday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center in University Heights, Ohio.

With the victory, John Carroll earned the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship, which begins next week. It is the third OAC tournament title in the history of the JCU program, all of which have occured since 2003.

"If heaven is half as good as this feeling, I can't wait to die," quipped John Carroll head coach Mike Moran. "I've been saying all year long how great this team has been when it comes to how they practice, how they play ... I am just very proud of them and privileged to coach them. They earned this the old fashioned way by working for it."

Click here to watch the 2009 OAC Championship game in its entirety (Video courtesy of Teamline and JCU Sports Information, Audio courtesy of WBWC-FM).

Capital had just pulled ahead, 85-84, on a DJ Frazier jumper with 90 seconds left in regulation when Kirbus came up with the shot of the night. Taking a pass from Brian Dandrea (Allison Park, PA, Hampton), Kirbus stroked a three-point field goal from the right corner to put the Blue Streaks back on top, 87-85, with 1:13 to play.

The Crusaders had chances at the other end, but a missed three-point answer and two missed free throws put JCU back in the driver's seat. 

Kirbus tried to put the game out of reach with another three try, but missed the shot. he was able to grab the carom, however, and was fouled with 19 seconds showing on the clock. He made both free throws for an 89-85 advantage.

The visiting Crusaders cut the lead to 89-87 on a pair of Ryan Wood free throws with 11 ticks left, and then fouled Michael Hartnett (North Royalton, OH, Lakewood St. Edward) with eight seconds to play. Harnett made the first but missed the second.

Trailing 90-87, Nate Stahl -- the reigning Most Valuable Player in the OAC -- was able to get a clean three-point attempt off, but the shot glanced off the iron and was rebounded as the buzzer sounded.

The opening 14 minutes of the game offered scintillating offense as both teams were red hot regardless of where the shot originated. When Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph) of John Carroll drained a short jumper with 6:08 to play in the half, he put John Carroll ahead, 35-34.

Capital then put together the first significant run of the game. Capped by a Stahl three-pointer, the Crusaders would take a 44-37 advantage with 3:49 on the clock.

The lead would surge to eight points for Capital when Ben McGrath scored on a lay-up with 49 seconds left, but JCU would cut the lead down to six before the half ended at 50-44 when Kirbus put back a missed three-pointer.

In the second half, John Carroll fired out of the gates. The Blue Streaks outscored Capital, 27-12 over the first ten minutes of the period to take a 71-62 lead. Chris Chris Zajac 's (Brecksville, OH, Brecksville-Broadview Heights) lay-up at the 10:08 mark gave the top-seeded Blue Streaks their largest lead of the game.

The second-seeded Crusaders, however, would chip away and would catch John Carroll on a Frazier three-pointer that knotted the contest at 77-77 with 6:07 on the clock.

JCU would not relinquish the lead until Frazier made a jumper with 90 seconds yet to be played, setting Up the big shot by Kirbus.

John Carroll (23-4), which won its 19th consecutive game, made 33-56 (.589) from the field for the game. Haynes led the Blue Streaks with 21 points, with Zajac adding 14 and Kirbus contributing ten -- five of which were in those final 73 seconds.

Capital (24-4) was led by a game-high 22 points from Wood, who had three teammates join him in double figures -- Frazier had 15, Adam Johns scored 13, and Stahl added 10. The Crusaders, who lost in the OAC title game for the second consecutive year, shot well from the field (27-51, .529) as well.

Haynes was named Most Valuable Player of the OAC Tournament, and was joined on the all-tournament team by his JCU teammate Zajac, Stahl and Wood from Capital, Trevor Scott of Muskingum and Kyle Meyer of Ohio Northern.