It takes all kinds of wins to survive a season in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

On Saturday afternoon, the John Carroll men's team won an ugly contest to stay undefeated.

After 14 lead changes, the Blue Streaks finished off a gritty 79-70 win over Wilmington College at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

JCU improves to 17-0, and 10-0 in the OAC. The Fightin' Quakers fall to 3-12, 2-8 in the OAC.

David Linane led the Blue Streaks with 24 points, and Simon Kucharewicz added 17 points and six rebounds. D.J. Iles was Wilmington's leading scorer with 18 points.

After JCU opened with a huge Kucharewicz dunk, the Blue Streaks appeared to be ready to roll.

However, the Fightin' Quakers were just as ready, which became apparent on their first possession when Andrew Russell hit a three. Six minutes later, Russell hit another three and was fouled in the process to mark what would be their largest lead of the game, 19-14.

Continuously battling back and forth through the first 20 minutes of play, Wilmington came out on top at halftime, leading 46-44. This marked only the third time this season that the Blue Streaks trailed at half (vs. Capital and Muskingum).

Starting up the second half, Wilmington briefly retained their lead. John Cirillo hit back-to-back layups at 16:09 to make it 53-50. It was the first time JCU led since 3:49 in the first half.

For the next three minutes, both teams battled from the three-point line. Nathan Jones, Andrew Russell and Danny Wallack traded three-pointers.

The score was tied at 56 with 11:49 remaining. A three pointer by David Linane gave the Blue and Gold a lead with 4:41 left, winning 69-67.

At 2:12, Kucharewicz had another two-handed slam to push the JCU lead to 75-68. Wilmington fouled to try and give themselves a chance, but the Blue Streaks sealed the deal with foul shots.

Saturday's contest marked the second fewest points scored in a game by JCU this season. They scored 75 against Capital University on Jan. 4.

"I'm just happy we won. Everyone is going to throw their best shots at us so we just have to play hard, play our game and find a way to win," said Simon Kucharewicz.