Ball in hand. Up by one. 30 seconds left. Packed house. Home court. All the ingredients were there for a fantastic finish by John Carroll.

There was a fantastic finish, all right. But it was not by the Blue Streaks.

Kevin Knab, who at the time was 9-for-9 from the field, made it 10-for-10 as he drained a 15-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded to lift Marietta to an 82-81 victory at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

Box Score

After a back-and-forth second half, John Carroll led Marietta by one with seven seconds left. 

Marietta inbounded the ball and pushed it up the court. After a few passes, Knab ended up with the ball and knocked down a deep jumper just inside the three point line to win the game. 

“We thought 15 (Marietta guard Ty Hammond) was going to take the last shot,” said JCU assistant coach John Stavole. “It was a miracle shot by their big guy from the top of the key.” 

John Carroll head coach Mike Moran agreed.

"They were in panic mode but found a way to knock one down," said Moran. 

Knab led all players with 31 points, shooting 10-10 from the field and 11-13 from the charity stripe.

While the game had no impact on the brackets for next week's Ohio Athletic Conference tournament, there was a playoff feel to the final regular season Saturday between the two teams that will be the top two seeds.



There was additional emotion supplied by the fact that the lone senior on either roster, John Carroll's Maurice Haynes II (Cleveland, OH, Villa Angela-St. Joseph), was honored prior to tip-off. 

JCU junior Mark Hester (Ashtabula, OH, Lakeside) scored a career high 22 points and Haynes added 19 points. In his final regular season game, Haynes also shared a team high seven rebounds with Hester. 

Haynes battled all night long with Knab, which showed in the first half when Knab came up with a bloody eye. 

“I had to come out with energy tonight to play with their big men,” said Haynes. “We felt that we came ready to play and showed good energy, which is important for the OAC Tournament.” 

After a first half that ended with Marietta up six, as well as both teams shooting 55 percent, the final 20 minutes proved to be a physical battle between both teams. In the second half, there would be seven lead changes, a technical foul on JCU coach Moran, and a number of clutch free throws down the stretch. 

With 13:40 to go in the second half, Moran was called for a technical after contesting a charge that was called on guard Michael Hartnett (North Royalton, OH, Lakewood St. Edward). At that point, John Carroll was called for seven fouls and the Pioneers had not been whistled yet. 

“You can't control some parts of the game,” said Moran. “I thought our guys did a great job battling all night long” 

John Carroll junior guard Corey Shontz (Andover, OH, Pymatuning Valley) had a relatively quiet evening for only nine points, but knocked down four free throws in in a 20-second span with less than two minutes left to turn a three-point deficit into a one-point advantage for the Blue Streaks at 79-78. 

Shortly after Marietta's Knab knocked down a pair of free throws to put his Pioneers back on top,  Haynes sank two foul shots of his own to put his Blue Streaks back up 81-80. 

JCU had a chance to expand its lead with its final possession, but a strong defensive stand by Marietta forced a bad shot, and the Pioneers got the rebound with 6.9 ticks left, setting up Knab's game winner.

On a night when John Carroll's trio of junior guards had a relatively quiet evening, Haynes and Hester kept the Blue Streaks in the game, and would love to get another shot at them in the OAC Tournament Championship. 

“We absolutely want to see them again in the Tournament,” said Haynes. 

The loss, however, does not change OAC playoff-picture for John Carroll (17-8, 12-6 OAC).The second-seeded Blue Streaks will face No. 7 seed Mount Union on Tuesday at home. 

Marietta (22-3, 15-3 OAC) further validated its regular season title. picked to finish fourth in the OAC in the preseason poll, the Pioneers are the number one seed in the postseason tournament and will host #8 seed Wilmington Tuesday evening.