John Carroll men's basketball team ended winter break on a high note, as the bench spurred the Blue Streaks to a hard fought 87-79 win against the Wilmington Quakers at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on Saturday.
Four Blue Streaks topped double figures in scoring, led by junior
John Cirillo's 19. Junior Matt Csuhran and senior
Doug Caputo each contributed 15 points, with freshman
Ryan Berger adding 13. With the win, John Carroll moves to 9-5 (6-2 OAC) and Wilmington falls to 6-9 (1-7 OAC).
The first half was a back-and-forth battle, which featured hot shooting by the Quakers. They opened the game on a 9-2 run, in which they knocked down three straight three-pointers. This would be the final lead for the Quakers. John Carroll countered and held a 26-19 lead with 8:33 left in the half.
Leading 32-27 with 4:28 remaining, the Blue Streaks ended the half on a 13-3 run, and pushed the lead up to 45-30.
A Cirillo jumper at the 17:13 mark in the second half extended the JCU lead to their largest margin of 17 points. The Quakers would not go down quietly. A trio of three-point goals and a Kameron Moore dunk brought JCU's lead down to seven.
Senior forward
Simon Kucharewicz found himself in early foul trouble, and
Doug Caputo contributed a team high 26 minutes as a result.
"Simon being in foul trouble was a big deal because he is such a dominant player," said Caputo. "I just had to jump up and fill his shoes." Caputo was 6-for-7 from the field to go along with seven rebounds.
Matt Csuhran shot 50 percent from three-point range and grabbed three rebounds "We came off a win in a game in which I didn't play in," explained Csuhran, " So I wanted to come in and play a really good game and help my teammates get a win."
The Blue Streaks shot 50 percent from the field and 35 percent from three. Wilmington shot at a 40 percent mark but connected on 12 triples. John Carroll's bench was a decisive factor as they outscored the Quakers 61-34.
John Carroll will remain home on Wednesday night, when they renew their rivalry with Baldwin Wallace at 7:00 p.m.
