After a long layoff, the John Carroll men's basketball team got back in rhythm on Thursday afternoon.

The Blue Streaks topped Hendrix College, 91-79, in the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn.

John Carroll improves to 4-5 on the season, with a second Music City Classic game coming tomorrow. Hendrix is now 3-5.

David Linane, Jr. scored 18 points and added three assists. Simon Kucharewicz added 12 points and four rebounds. John Cirillo scored 17 points off the
bench for JCU.

Gearan Littlefield scored a Warriors-high 22 points. Preston Smith notched 17, including 4-of-6 from beyond-the-arc. Hank Aldous had 17 as well.

The first five minutes came up John Carroll, as the Blue Streaks flew out to an 11-4 lead. Back-to-back layups by Doug Caputo and John Cirillo capped off the run and forced a Hendrix timeout.

An 8-2 run midway through the half put Hendrix on top, 25-23. Two three-pointers from Aldous in the span of 49 seconds pushed the Warriors in front for the first time in the contest. After a pair of JCU free throws, Hendrix scored eight straight points to make the score 33-25.

John Carroll stole the momentum with an 14-1 run that took up a major chunk of time. A Vuyancih layup at 4:39 gave JCU a 37-36 advantage, and a Linane three-pointer put the punctuation mark on the dominant 4:30 stretch.

The Blue and Gold led the Warriors, 47-43, at the half.

In ten minutes of play in the first half, Kucharewicz went 4-of-5 from the floor for eight points. Linane made two three-pointers in the first half. Caputo and Cirillo each had five rebounds.

Smith shot 4-of-6 from the floor, all from beyond-the-arc. Smith's 16 points were a high for both teams in the first half.

Twenty of JCU's 47 points came off the bench. John Carroll held the shooting advantage, 49% to 47%. Hendrix was red-hot from three-point range, making 46% of their shots.

In the second half, John Carroll extended the lead to double-digits midway through the second half. A 15-3 run in under four minutes put the proceedings heavily in JCU's favor. Layups by Vuyancih and Caputo pushed the Warriors to the brink.

Hendrix fought back with five straight points before Matthew Csuhran slammed the door on a potential run with a three-pointer.

Kucharewicz fouled out with 5:31 to play, and Hendrix attempted to close the game, but the Blue Streaks closed out the game.

JCU takes on Marymount University tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.