Box Score Looking to even its road conference record the John Carroll University men's basketball team squared off against Wilmington College on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Streaks only had one win in its last six trips to Wilmington.

Down 11 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the second half, the Blue Streaks never gave up.

John Carroll battled all of the way back to tie the score at 63 and 65 when Doug Caputo finished on a putback with 3:56 and cut to the basket with just over two minutes remaining.

Wilmington College would regroup to take the 72-66 win. John Carroll falls to 9-4, 3-3 OAC while Wilmington improves to 8-4, 5-1 OAC.

Simon Kucharewicz's energy sparked the comeback with just over nine minutes remaining to spurt the Blue and Gold on a 16-5 run.

The sophomore's aggressive play on the offensive end led to technical foul on Wilmington's R.J. Leppert with 8:58 remaining.

Sophomore Danny Wallack made Wilmington pay. Enterting the day 28-of-30 for the season at the foul line, Wallack sank both free throws before Will Starks buried a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.

After the Fighin' Quakers responded with five straight points the Blue and Gold went back to work.

Layups by Joey Vuyancih, Doug Caputo and David Hendrickson coupled with a Starks jumper pulled JCU to within two.

Featuring the top scoring offense in the OAC, the Blue Streaks did not get on the board for nearly the first four minutes of the game when Tim Ludlow scored JCU's first points.

Leppert put Wilmington up for good with 55 seconds remaining.

The Blue Streaks had a balanced scoring effort on the afternoon as no player reached double figures but the Blue and Gold did have seven players with seven or more points led by Hendrickson and Kucharewicz who each scored nine points.

Hendrickson led JCU in rebounding with eight rebounds. Kucharewicz recorded four of the Blue Streaks' 10 steals.

John Carroll returns home to take on rival Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15.