The stakes were high.
 
The John Carroll University men's basketball team had a must win game in order to stay in the running for a potential top two seed in next week's OAC Tournament. A loss would have automatically locked JCU into the three seed.
 
John Carroll answered the call and defeated Mount Union 88-81 on Wednesday evening inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on senior night. John Carroll improved to 18-5, 14-3 OAC while Mount Union fell to 18-6, 14-3 OAC. The win gave JCU its first perfect OAC regular season at home since the 2011-12 season.
 
The first 60 seconds of the contest set the tone for the rest of the night as the teams each scored twice on driving layups to put the score at 4-4 with 19:06 remaining. The fast-paced offensive style was expected with John Carroll ranked sixth in the nation in scoring offense (88.8) and Mount Union ranked eighth nationally in scoring offense (85.6).
 
After the teams continued to exchange baskets, junior guard Will Starks drilled a 3-pointer to give JCU a 27-19 lead with 9:17 left to play in the first half. The basket was part of a 10-0 team run.
 
The hot shooting of the Blue Streak point guards was on full display throughout the first half as both David Linane and Ryan Farragher shot a combined 8-for-11 from the floor for 18 total points. The tandem tallied four assists and a pair of steals to go along with their impressive scoring numbers from the first 20 minutes.
 
David Hendrickson finished off the exciting first half for the Blue Streaks with a deep three to give the Blue Streaks a 46-36 lead heading into the intermission. Hendrickson and Jake Hollinger were honored before the game as Wednesday marked their final home regular season game.
 
Not only could these OAC counterparts score the basketball, but they could defend as well. The two teams amounted an astounding 17 steals and forced 24 total turnovers. The high-powered offenses and stingy defenses would all but guarantee another competitive half of basketball and an exhilarating finish.
 
After being held scoreless in the first half, Danny Wallack came out firing by converting a trio of field goals to score the first eight points for John Carroll. Wallack completed a three-point play with a free throw to give the blue and gold a 54-41 lead with 17:44 remaining.
 
The Purple Raiders would cut the lead to single digits but they could not shrink the deficit below four in the first 10 minutes of the second half. A pair of mid-range jump shots from Farragher and Linane along with a driving layup from Hendrickson gave the Blue Streaks a 78-64 lead, forcing a Mount Union timeout with 7:47 left to play.
 
John Carroll's pesky defense kept Mount Union in check for the remainder of the game by holding a lead greater than four for the last seven minutes. Coach Mike Moran showed trust in his freshmen in the final four minutes as both John Cirillo and Tony Vuyancih played in place of the fouled out Hollinger.
 
Farragher was efficient all evening long shooting a perfect 7for-7 from the floor to give him 16 total points. JCU had six players score at least 10 points in the contest including four of its five starters.
 
John Carroll closes out the regular season with a 3 p.m. contest at Muskingum on Saturday, Feb. 21.