Box Score
After a Wednesday night conference loss at home, the John Carroll University men's basketball team traveled to Ada, OH Saturday afternoon, looking for JCU's first win in Ada since January 2010 and only its sixth all-time.
After a dominant first half from the Blue Streaks, the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears clawed back to tie the game at 70 at the end of regulation, before JCU closed out an 82-76 overtime win.
The game opened with a 6-0 run from the Blue and Gold, which eventually led to an evenly-matched first half early on. Midway through the first, however, John Carroll would go on a 12-1 spurt, stretching its lead to 11 points before taking a 40-30 advantage into the locker room.
Leading the Streaks in the first period were
Kyle Hubbard,
Regan Sweeney, and
Kenny Janz. Hubbard played a complete half, with ten points and six rebounds, while shooting 100% from the field. Sweeney ended the first with 11 points, while Janz made an eight-point contribution to a stellar first half.
Though no points were scored by either team in the second half until 16:45 remaining, Northern was not willing to give JCU the road win easily. Cutting into the lead to eventually tie the game late, sophomore forward Lucas Pennington had a huge second half - scoring 13 points and sinking three three-pointers. Pennington would end with a double-double, amassing 18 points and ten rebounds.
The overtime period, however, would tell a similar story to the first half, as a close contest at the outset of the period gave way to a 10-3 John Carroll run to close out the game. Hubbard proved too much for the Polar Bears, as his eight points in overtime would give him a double-double on the afternoon (28 points, ten rebounds).
John Carroll outshot ONU 50.9% to 35.1% from the field, while Sweeney finished with 18 points and five rebounds. Janz added 14 points and six boards for the visitors.
The Blue Streaks improve to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the OAC, while Northern falls to 5-4 and 1-1 in conference play.
The men's basketball team will return to University Heights for final exams, and host Capital University at 2:00 p.m. next Saturday, December 15. The Crusaders, last year's conference champions, will bring an undefeated league record into the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
