For a moment, it looked like Spencer Niekamp would be the name living in infamy among John Carroll circles for denying the Blue Streaks a chance at earning a share of the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title.

Instead, it would be Chris Zajac adding to his reputation as a clutch player.

His jumper with eight seconds left proved to be the winning points in a 69-68 Blue Streak victory at the DeCarlo Varsity Center. With the win, JCU has earned at least a share of its ninth OAC crown. 

Box Score

The Streaks need just one victory in the final two games to win the championship outright and earn the top seed in the conference postseason tournament. 

But to say Capital made them earn it would be an understatement.

With a minute left in the game, Capital was battling to take the lead. After a miss on his first attempt from inside the arc, Niekamp got the ball back following an offensive board by Adam Johns and hit a three-pointer to give his team a 68-67 lead.

John Carroll head coach Mike Moran called a timeout to devise one last plan of attack. With 10 seconds on the clock, Zajac made a basket to put John Carroll back on top by a point.

“It was actually a play for Rudy [Kirbus],” Zajac said. “But I faked it to him and luckily made the shot.”

Capital's DJ Frazier tried to answer at the other end but his attempt came up short and into the hands of Kirbus, who ran out the clock.

This game was close to a repeat to the previous matchup, which was also nothing short of a nail biter. In a game played at the University of Dayton Arena on January 9, regulation ended with a score of 87-87, after which John Carroll came out on top in overtime, 99-93.

In today's match-up, both teams put up 31 points in a back-and-forth first half.

Capital found a burst of energy at the start of the second half with a seven-point run, keyed by a pair of breakaway Anthony Bell dunks. Moran made the decision to swap in a fresh line-up, which proved to be a good choice as JCU answered with a 5-0 run of its own

Despite the quick answer, John Carroll spent much of the second half chasing the Crusaders. With eight minutes left to go, Blue Streak junior Maurice Haynes made an impressive dunk, which brought the partisan John Carroll crowd to its feet and his team to within one point of the Crusaders at 56-55.

But it was not until a Zajac lay-up at the 4:29 mark that John Carroll grabbed its first lead of the second period at 60-59.

The score would be tied three more times at 60, 62 and 64 before a three-point play by Haynes gave his team a 67-65 advantage with 51 seconds left.

Capital needed a two to tie on its next possession, but Niekamp was able to hit a three that made him a hero – for a moment. 

That is, until Zajac hit yet another big shot with the game on the line.

“Capital is a huge rivalry,” said a smiling Haynes after the game. “I was given opportunities because of my teammates. Whenever we play Capital, we want to beat them every time. It doesn't matter how, as long as we get it.”

The Blue Streaks leading scorers were Zajac with 15 and Maurice Haynes with 14. Matt Crozier added ten for John Carroll (17-5, 13-3 OAC), which survived a 3-15 start to the game from the field to win its eighth consecutive game.

Ben McGrath, who scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half, led the way for Capital (14-9, 9-7 OAC), which lost for just the fourth time in its last 17 games. Niekamp (11) and Frazier (10) also reached double figures for the Crusaders, who shot 9-19 (.474) from three-point range as compared to John Carroll's 6-24 (.250)

“We made one better decision than them,” said Moran. “If there would have been another five seconds, you would be talking to [Capital's] Coach [Damon] Goodwin and the other team.”