As January comes to a close, each men's basketball game is crucial to the conference standings.

The John Carroll men's team stayed undefeated and kept pace at the top of the OAC with a 84-73 victory against Ohio Northern (8-11, 5-7 OAC) on Saturday afternoon.

JCU (19-0, 12-0 OAC) remains one game ahead of Marietta and two ahead of Mount Union with six conference games to play.

David Linane was the leading scorer for the Blue Streaks with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Aron Thress led the Polar Bears with 28 points and nine rebounds.

After Simon Kucharewicz headed to the free throw line to score the first two points of the game for John Carroll, it was evident that Saturday afternoon's match-up would be a physical battle.

The Blue Streaks led by just a handful for the opening six minutes of play, but Ohio Northern's Travis Feitshands hit a three-pointer to tie the game up at 13 with 13:00 minutes left in the first half of play.

Under two minutes later, Joey DiOrio added another three points to make the score 16-13 in favor of the Polar Bears. Danny Wallack promptly matched DiOrio's three to even the score back out at 16. This game marked Wallack's 100th game as a Blue Streak.

For the next seven minutes, the Blue Streaks started to build a lead. At 7:27, Derik Young made a three to give the Blue and Gold a seven-point lead.

Ohio Northern did not back down. With 4:13 on the clock, the score was tied at 34. Devon Allen was successful from the arc to give the Polar Bears a three-point edge.

Linane's three at 3:10 began what turned into an eight-point lead to finish the first half, 47-39. Linane finished the first half with 11 points and Will Starks added 10.

Thress led the Polar Bears in the first half with 14 points and 6 rebounds. The Orange and Black shot 52.9%, however, they had seven turnovers in the opening half of play.

At the start of the second half, the Blue Streaks held their lead for the first seven minutes. At 13:10, Three hit a jumper to tie the game at 59. However, that would be the last change the Polar Bears had at stopping the Blue and Gold.

The largest lead of the game stretched to 14 with 3:07 left to play, courtesy of a John Cirillo free throw. John Carroll closed the deal on Ohio Northern down the stretch, winning 84-73.

"It was nice to get a good OAC win. It's a team effort when it comes down to the end and it was nice to get the W," said David Linane. "When I'm feeling it, Coach gives me the go-ahead to shoot the ball, and that's what I was doing today. Luckily, it was going in."

The Blue Streaks will host Otterbein University on Wednesday, Feb. 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.