Halftime adjustments can bey a key factor in winning games. Whatever the John Carroll men's basketball staff did on Wednesday night worked like a charm. 

The fourth-ranked Blue Streaks (20-0, 13-0 OAC) outscored Otterbein 52-19 in the second half on the way to defeating the Cardinals (4-16, 2-11 OAC) by a score of 95-48 on Wednesday evening inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. With the victory, JCU has won by double-digits in six of its last seven contests and is now a win away from tying the program record for consecutive wins (21, 2008-09 season).

David Linane and Simon Kucharewicz were responsible for the majority of the Blue Streaks scoring with 16 and 13 points respectively. Kucharewicz also recorded a double-double with 14 rebounds.

The Cardinals found themselves in an offensive lull as they failed to score in the first 3:10 of the game. Despite the slow start, the low-scoring affair was deadlocked at 9 with 14:10 remaining in the opening half.

Defensive pressure and efficiency at the other end gave the Blue and Gold some breathing room in the middle-portion of the first half. Doug Caputo drained a top-of-the-key jumper to bring the lead to 23-14.

The home team lead continued to grow as the half progressed with Caputo and Kucharewicz contributing 11 combined points and 11 rebounds. The score stood at 43-29 at the intermission.

Head coach Mike Moran had his team ready coming out of the locker room as JCU went on a 10-0 run to begin the second half. Otterbein finally broke the scoring drought thanks to a deep three-pointer from Marc McCuen. JCU was now in charge with a comfortable 53-32 lead with 15:41 left to play.

Another 13-0 run followed the McCuen three as the Blue and Gold pulled ahead to double the Otterbein score 64-32.

The remaining portion of the game paved way for some of the JCU reserves to get an opportunity. Freshman Allen Stokes entertained the crowd with an emphatic block on one end of the floor followed by a one-handed over-the-head assist to John Cirillo on the other. Mario Formicelli joined the party by nailing a mid-range shot to bring the lead to 81-40.

Shawn McDonald chipped in four points along with Noah Bidar and Preston Williams contributing a basket apiece to put the exclamation point on the victory from University Heights.

This is the largest margin of victory for the Blue Streaks since a 41-point victory over the Marietta Pioneers in University Heights on Jan. 12, 2008. 

JCU will make the trek out to Columbus, OH to take on the Capital Crusaders at 2 pm on Saturday at Performance Arena.