Box Score

Just three nights ago, the John Carroll men's basketball team blew out Heidelberg in Tiffin by 40, snapping a two-game road losing streak.  Tonight in Westerville however, the Blue Streaks' road woes would return.  
 
The Blue & Gold (15-5, 10-4 OAC) fell 89-75 to the OAC's ninth place Otterbein Cardinals Saturday night.  With the loss and a Capital win earlier i nthe day, the Blue Streaks fall into second place in the OAC with four games remaining in the regular season. 

Today's loss also marks the second consecutive loss to Otterbein at the Rike Center.  The Cardinals knocked off the Blue Streaks in Westerville last season, 86-83. 

Otterbein (7-14, 4-10 OAC), who is now in a three-way tie for seventh in the OAC, was on fire from the field, shooting a blazing 57.1 percent.  Four 3-pointers in the first 9:40 of the game would put the Cardinals up 22-13.  The Blue Streaks would fight back with a 15-5 run to take a 28-27 lead with 3:00 to play in the first half.  The Cardinals would end the half on a 5-2 mini spurt to take a 35-33 advantage.

The second half for John Carroll would start favorably, and it appeared that the Blue Streaks would have a good shot of leaving Westerville with a “W."  A layup by Joe Meyer with 14:10 to play gave JCU a 48-44 lead. 

From that point on, it was all Cardinals.  A 16-4 over the next five minutes of action would give them a 60-52 lead with 9:34 remaining.  A Joe Meyer three-ball would cut the lead to five, just to have Otterbein reel off another 9-2 run to go up by 12 with 6:22 left. 

Despite many players in foul trouble, a Corey Shontz triple cut the deficit to seven with 4:21 remaining, and two free-throws by Meyer brought the Blue Streaks within four at 74-70 with 3:21 to go.  Otterbein's relentlessness would prevail, however, as they closed the game on a 15-5 scoring surge to secure the victory. 

Coming into tonight's action, the Blue Streaks had eight foul-out occurrences the entire season.  Tonight, four JCU players were forced out of the game after picking up their fifth foul.  Meyer, Mark Hester, Kyle Hubbard, and Patrick Sweeney each fouled out in the second half. 

Offensively, John Carroll was led by senior guard Corey Shontz with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting.  Meyer added 16 for the Blue & Gold. 

Otterbein was led by RaNeal Ewing, who finished with 21 points.  Brice Rausch, Max Van Meter, and Chris Davis contributed point totals of 18, 12, and 12. 

Corey Shontz made history tonight by tying Joey Bigler ('97) for number one all-time in program history for 3-point field goals made in a career.  Shontz, who had 178 coming into play, hit three treys against the Cardinals. 

Shontz made more history by moving into third all-time in program history in assists.  He finished with eight assists, giving him 409 for his career.  The former occupant of the third spot in career assists was none other than head coach Mike Moran's son, Pete ('07), who finished his career with 403 assists.