The cruel beast that is the free throw shows no forgiveness.
 
On one late possession, a missed free throw gave John Carroll life. On the next possession, two misses at the stripe gave hope back to Ohio Northern. 

In the end, visiting Ohio Northern escaped the DeCarlo Varsity Center with a 68-66 victory in which it held the Blue Streaks to season lows in points, field goal percentage and three-point field goals made. 

Box Score 

“I first want to credit our guys for battling hard even when things just weren't falling,” said John Carroll head coach Mike Moran. “But Ohio Northern gets credit, too. They made life hard for us. We were our own worst enemy today, but those guys were a very close second.”

Hidden behind the drama at the free throw line was a key stretch in the first half that set the stage for the second. 

John Carroll fell behind almost right away. After Conor Tilow (Rocky River, OH, Lakewood St. Edward)opened the game with a lay-up on the first possession, JCU went cold for the next ten trips down the floor. 

In the meantime, Ohio Northern would rattle off nine points in a row 

JCU would claw back and take a 16-15 lead on Conor Sweeney (Eastlake, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius) three-pointer at the 6:11 mark of the opening half, only to have the Polar Bears close out the period on a 19-7 run – fueled by four consecutive three point pointers from Taylor Kuhlman (two), Tony Meyer and Branden Rushton (at the buzzer). 

Starting the second half in an 11-point hole, the Blue Streaks expended a lot of energy cutting into the lead. John Carroll actually pulled ahead at the 4:43 mark on a Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley) lay-up. 

JCU still had the lead until 2:38 remained, as Jared Horstman made his only three of the game a big one to give Ohio Northern a 60-58 edge. 

The Polar Bears would hold the lead, but not without consternation. A lay-up by Sweeney with 22 seconds left cut the margin to one at 65-64, after which Tony Meyer was fouled. 

The ONU sophomore missed the first but made the second to keep the score at 66-64. 

The game fell onto Tilow's shoulders after the John Carroll was fouled after rebounding his own miss, but an unforgiving rim chased the first shot, and the second was long. 

Forced to foul on the rebound, JCU helplessly watched Scott Schnelle bury both free throws to push the margin to four.

Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley)made a lay-up to reduce the deficit to two, but the polar bears executed a successful long pass on the inbound to secure the win. 

Ohio Northern (4-3, 2-1 OAC), which has two losses this season by a single point, survived this one thanks to 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Schnelle, who was 8-10 from the free throw line (all in the second half). 

Kuhlman (16), Rushton (10) and Joe Staley (10) all reached double figures for the Polar Bears.
 
John Carroll (6-2, 2-1 OAC) were paced by 20 points apiece fromConor Tilow (Rocky River, OH, Lakewood St. Edward)and Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph). 

The Blue Streaks 66 points were its lowest total of the season (79 was the previous low), as were its two three-point field goals (previous low six) and .394 field goal percentage (previous low was .420 in the opener).