Box Score With Ohio Northern battling back late in the first half, David Hendrickson made sure John Carroll would go into halftime with the lead. The junior fought through a foul with 56 seconds remaining to finish the lay-up and sank the ensuing free throw.

Hendrickson was not done as he had one more spectacular finish left in the tank just before halftime.

With less than a second on the clock the junior flipped a how-did-he-make-that shot into the basket as he was falling down to the floor to give John Carroll a 6-point halftime lead.

"David was the key today," said head coach Mike Moran. "He played like a real veteran out there, taking over and playing gutty."

The two teams battled all afternoon as neither team would go quietly. The Blue Streaks never trailed and gutted out an 82-64 win to improve its record to 5-1 and even their OAC mark at 1-1. Ohio Northern fell to 2-4, 0-2 OAC.

Said Moran, "We needed it. You've got to hold your own at home. That's huge. It's tough on the road. We know that. Being our first home game too, we didn't know how we would react. We got out of the blocks quick this season, then we got on the road to Mount Union and that kind of put us on our tail a little bit. I'd like to think we're back, but we can play better."

John Carroll finally found some breathing room halfway through the second half, led once again by Hendrickson.

The Saline, Mich. native made a layup with 5:36 remaining in the game and stole the ensuing inbounds pass. After he was fouled he made the second of a pair of free throws opening up a 9-point John Carroll lead, the largest lead since the 13:14 mark of the first half.

"It's a team effort," said Hendrickson. "They were starting to make a run so someone had to step up. I took one to the hole and got fouled on it. We needed the momentum plays. It wasn't just me, Doug and Jake had great games as well. It was a good team win."

From there it was all John Carroll as the Blue Streaks found second wind outscoring the Polar Bears 12-3 down the stretch.

The Blue Streaks started strong in their home opener spurting out to an 11-3 lead just 3:06 into the game with Jake Hollinger leading the way with six points in the opening stretch.

Despite their early success, the Polar Bears would not go quietly pulling within one at the halfway point of the first half and tying the score twice in the second half.

"The thing I'm most happy with is Ohio Northern always has a quality team, a well-coached team," said Moran. "Even though they have a few losses, if you look at the teams they've played, they have taken everyone down to the wire. We want to savor this one."

John Carroll maintained its composure and reclaimed a 6-point edge with Murphy and Linane connecting.

Ten players found the scoring column for John Carroll. Hendrickson led the way with 14 points while Hollinger added 12. Simon Kucharewicz finished one rebound shy of a double-double adding 10 points and nine rebounds in the win.

"Simon's getting better," said Moran. "I think he owes half of his paycheck a lot of times to David Linane because he sees the floor and gets him the ball. Simon really runs the floor hard."

The Blue Streaks have a week off before traveling to Capital for a 2 p.m. tilt on Saturday, Dec. 14.