Box Score Just as euphoria does not greet every win, catastrophe does not greet every loss.

Such was the case for the John Carroll men's basketball team Saturday afternoon in Marietta. Unlike Wednesday when the Blue Streaks collapsed in the second half, there was some fight in the young pups as a 25-point deficit was reduced to seven.

The game still turned out to be an 81-70 defeat the hands of the host Pioneers. But John Carroll, with a roster that features just three players outside of the freshmen and sophomore classes, may have taken an important step forward.

When Brennan McKean made a three-point field goal at the 13:14 mark of the second half, the Pioneers widened their lead to an afternoon high 25 points. It was 58-33, and the Streaks were not showing much life.

Oddly enough, it seemed a missed dunk by Marietta provided a catalyst for a comeback. John Carroll would score 13 of the next 16 after the attempted crowd pleaser, and by the time Danny Wallack drained a three-pointer with 5:48 to play, JCU had reduced the gap between the two teams to single digits at 68-59.

Marietta held the Streaks just enough at bay from that point on that the visitors could not hget closer than seven points. That occured with just over a minute remaining as Kyle Hubbard dropped a pair of free throws to make the score 77-70. John Carroll would not score again.

The Pioneers led wire-to-wire, and were holding on to a slim 16-12 advantage eight minutes into the contest. A 25-8 burst, however, blew the game open, and Marietta took a 41-25 lead into the locker room.

Marietta, with its ninth win in the last 11 apeparances on the hardwood, improved to 11-4 overall and 7-1 in league play. Jacob Owens scored 20, McKean added 18 and J.J. Martin tallied 15 as the Pioneers shot .500 from both the field (30-60) and three-point range (16-32).

Regan Sweeney scored a career-high 29 points to lead John Carroll, whose season long three-game losing streak drops its record to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Hubbard added 12 and David Hendrickson chipped in 10 as the Streaks rebounded from a 9-34 (.265) shooting effort in the first half to make 14-2* .500) from the floor in the second..