Box Score While Wilmington's men's basketball team defeated John Carroll by a slim margin in University Heights earlier this season, today's match-up lacked suspense as the Quakers overpowered the Blue Streaks in a 84-66  in Wilmington, OH. 

On December 5th, the Quakers made the trek to John Carroll a positive one, winning by a 70-66 margin.  This time around, Wilmington jumped out to an early 21-4 advantage, a lead that the Blue & Gold could not overcome

This game marked the final regular-season home game for the Quakers, and with that, both teams entered the game with unusual starting line-ups. Wilmington started a senior at every position.  To counter, Coach Moran started two freshman and three sophomores in Ryan Farragher, Jordan Combs, Regan Sweeney, Simon Kucharewicz, and Jake Hollinger.  

With Wilmington primarily in control early, there were few opportunities for the Blue Streaks to get a footing.  After only a few minutes from the start of the game, both teams made full-court subs to try to spark an offense.  John Carroll was plagued with turnovers from the start with five in just the first five minutes of the half.

The first half looked to be all Wilmington, as Malcolm Heard II made his first nine shots to tally 14 points.  Thanks to a 3-point shot from Sweeney late in the period, the Blue Streaks pulled within five points. The Quakers responded, however, and led 37-26 at the break.  Sophomore David Hendrickson led the team with 12 of the 26 first-half points.  Though Wilmington did not commit too many fouls in the first half, John Carroll capitalized on those provided and made seven of their eight free throws.

After intermission, Wilmington came out with a bang, both making baskets and committing fouls, while JCU left the locker room looking to exploit the physical defense of the Quakers.  Only five minutes into the second half, Wilmington was already dogged by five fouls.  With 10 minutes to go, Wilmington had acquired nine fouls giving John Carroll plenty of free throw shots.  But no matter how many free throws the Quakers gave up, it was to no avail as they continued to drain their shots to keep the lead until the final buzzer sounded.

Leading the Blue & Gold were Hendrickson (15 pts), Kucharewicz (nine pts, 11 reb, three blk), and Sweeney (eight pts, eight reb).  JCU led in rebounds, 49-39, but committed 24 turnovers.