The fourth-ranked John Carroll men's basketball team remained undefeated following a physical 91-72 battle against Capital University on Saturday afternoon in Bexley, Ohio.

Both teams combined for 54 fouls, including four technical fouls. John Carroll committed a total of 29 fouls. The Blue Streaks went 21-29 from the free throw line, while the Crusaders went 29-37.

Thankfully, the John Carroll starting guard duo of Danny Wallack and David Linane brought a scoring punch to the Capital Center. Wallack finished the game with a career-high 22 points, leading all scorers, while Linane popped in 16 points. Two other Blue Streaks finished in double-figures as Simon Kucharewicz and Ryan Farragher each posted 14 points.

Having only won by one point the first time these two teams played on Jan. 4, John Carroll opened up the game dominating Capital. The Blue Streaks scored the first 13 points of the game, while the Crusaders turned the ball over four times before making their first basket. Wallack scored eight of those points.

Five minutes into the first half, the Blue and Gold were up 18-2, forcing a Capital timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Crusaders went on a 14-5 run, to make the score 31-23 with 8:22 remaining in the first half. By this point, the Blue Streaks were already in the bonus.

At 6:53, Capital came as close as they would get the whole game, 34-27, courtesy of a couple Michael Green free throws.

The score going into halftime was 50-37, Wallack and Linane both contributed 12 point up to this point.

At the start of the second half, Kucharewicz added a quick two points, followed immediately by a Will Starks three-pointer, to make the score 55-37.

After a few points scored by Schreck, Farragher went on a run of his own, scoring five straight points for the Blue Streaks.

With 12:10 to play, following a three ball by Starks, John Carroll went ahead 71-48.

The Crusaders tried to make a late push, taking advantage of a bevy of Blue Streak turnovers and fouls. When Mark Minch hit a three-pointer with 8:21 remaining, the Crusaders trailed by just 11 points at 76-65.

From that point on, however, the Blue Streak defense held Capital to seven points to salt away a school-record tying 21st consecutive victory. That mark matches the 21 in a row won by the 2008-09 Blue Streak squad that won the OAC regular season and tournament titles and reached the Round of 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament as part of a 25-5 campaign.

The 21 consecutive victories is a program record to start a season.

The JCU defense limited Capital to 20-56 (.357) shooting from the field, and 3-16 (.188) from three-point range. The Blue Streaks also did a superb defensive job on the OAC's leading scorer Minch, who was held to his second lowest output of the year with 12 points on 4-14 shooting from the field. It snapped a run of six consecutive contests in which Minch had topped 20 points.

Freshman guard Austin Schreck led the Crusaders with 16 points as Capital fell to 10-11 overall and 6-8 in the OAC.

Overall, the Blue and Gold shot 52.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three-point range, making 12 three-pointers. JCU is now 21-0 overall and 14-0 in the OAC, maintaining a one-game lead over Marietta (19-2, 13-1) and a two-and-a-half game lead on Mount Union (15-5, 11-2)

The Blue and Gold will host Baldwin-Wallace on Wednesday, Feb. 10 for a 7 p.m. tip-off in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.