Box Score If the opening game of the season is any precursor to what 2011-2012 may hold, Blue Streak fans may be in for a wild ride. Unfortunately, the Blue Streaks dropped the opening game of the year to the #20 Centre College Colonels in overtime, 92-91, in a game that had the NCAA Tournament-like feel that each of these two teams are very familiar with.

John Carroll (0-1, 0-0 OAC) finished with five players in double figures, but struggled from the charity stripe in the loss (11-21, 52.4%). Centre (2-0, 0-0 SCAC), on the other hand, proved why they were the 11th best free throw shooting team in the country last season (32-41, 78%).

Box Score

JCU got out to a fast start on offense. Senior Connor Sweeney drilled a three ball 13:10 remaining in the first half to give John Carroll an 18-8 lead, but the Streaks quickly went cold from the floor. Over the next four and a half minutes, Centre looked unstoppable as they pieced together an 18-2 run and gave themselves a 26-20 lead.

But the Blue Streaks responded shortly thereafter with an 8-0 run of their own, capped by a Corey Shontz 3-pointer with 4:35 to play.

Excellent defensive pressure helped the Blue Streaks down the stretch of the half, as they took a 39-36 lead into the break.

John Carroll was fueled by the three point shot early in the first half. Led by Mike Hartnett, who knocked down all three of his first half triple tries, the Blue and Gold connected on 6-14 from beyond the arc. Hartnett led the well balanced offense with nine points at the half.

The Streaks were haltered by 13 first half fouls, allowing Centre to get to the free throw line 19 times. The Colonels connected on 15 of their free throw attempts in the opening period.

The second half got off to a streaky start. John Carroll quickly scored five points before Centre answered with a 9-0 run to bring the game back to even. Mark Hester halted the run with a three ball at 15:57 remaining to give John Carroll a 49-45 edge.

Unfortunately, Bryon Ellis got hot from beyond the arc in a hurry. He canned two treys in 40 seconds and gave Centre their first lead of the second half at 57-53 with 11 minutes to play in regulation. Ellis finished with a game-high 25 points, including seven 3-pointers.

Centre continued to get to the free throw line throughout the second half as well. After Jeff Mullaney connected on both attempts from the stripe, Centre took a 59-58 lead with 8:25 left in the half.

Try as they might, the Blue Streaks would not regain the lead until there were 52 seconds left to play. With a two point lead, Mike Hartnett could not hit his second free throw with 15 seconds to go and Greg Ross responded with a layup on the other end to tie the game at 77-77 at the end of regulation.

The overtime period could not have been filled with more drama. Joe Meyer and Jeff Mullaney traded 3-pointers before Pat Sweeney completed a three-point play. Sweeney was fouled by Greg Ross (his fifth), who finished with 25 points on 6-11 shooting, including 13-14 from the free throw line for the Colonels.

Ellis and Shontz traded three's in consecutive possessions to keep the game tied 86-86. On Hester's layup with 1:23 to play, the Streaks took a two point lead. That would be their final lead of the ball game. Corey Shontz hit a three with 1.1 to play to make the score 92-91, but JCU couldn't get a steal or foul quickly enough on the in-bound pass and dropped their first game of the season.

“We have to play a smarter game,” said head coach Mike Moran afterwards. “You can't put a team on the free throw line 41 times and expect to win. Our shot selection down the stretch was poor too, but Centre is a well-coached team.”

The Blue Streaks shot 41% from the floor and connected on 16-40 from beyond the arc. Centre used a strong shooting second half (12-23, 52.2%) to control much of the second half. Mullaney finished with 23 points for Centre. John Carroll was paced by a team-high 18 points from Hartnett, 17 from Meyer and 14 a piece from Shontz and Hester.