The first rally pulled John Carroll to within five points but was ultimately repelled.

The second rally enabled the Blue Streaks to take the lead, only to give it right back.

The third rally held up, as host JCU scored 11 of the final 13 points of the contest to knock off Ohio Northern, 101-95, on Saturday at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

With the win, John Carroll handed Ohio Northern its first league loss and created a five-way tie for first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings. John Carroll, Ohio Northern, Baldwin Wallace, Mount Union and Muskingum are all 3-1. The Blue Streaks have already played all those teams except crosstown rival Baldwin Wallace.

John Carroll led throughout most of the game's opening ten minutes. When Antonio Vyancih made a driving lay-up at the 11:57 mark, the Blue Streaks led 21-14.

The Polar Bears used sizzling shooting from beyond the arc to alter the course of the game. Five three balls over a span of 153 seconds turned a seven-point deficit into a 29-28 lead with 8:49 to play. Nate Burger's long range bomb gave the Polar Bears their first lead of the afternoon.

Ohio Northern would lead by as many as ten points in the opening half before taking a 52-43 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Things seemed to go from bad to worse for John Carroll in the opening 70 seconds of the second half, as Burger buried three consecutive three-pointers to give Ohio Northern what would be its largest advantage of the contest, 61-45 with 18:50 left to play.

Ryan Berger kicked started an 18-7 rally over the next four-plus minutes with a three ball of his own. Jimmy Berger's lay-up with 14:09 showing on the second half clock pulled the Blue Streaks to within five points at 68-63.

The Polar Bears would weather that storm, however, and push the lead back up to 13 points. Christiaan Williams' driving lay-up put the visitors ahead 79-66 with 10:24 remaining.

Rally number two would commence shortly thereafter. Over the six minutes, John Carroll would force six missed shots and seven turnovers to turn a 79-66 deficit into an 88-82 lead. The 22-3 run was punctuated by a steal off an inbounds pass by Brian Papich, who was then fouled. he sank both free throws to put the home team ahead by six points with 4:33 on the clock.

The lead would not hold. Renergized by some made free throws, a three ball by Burger and a lay-up by Brandon Waugh, Ohio Northern erased John Carroll's advantage quickly and took a 93-90 lead with two minutes left in regulation.

The final rally would hold. Vuyancih hit a jumper to tie the game at 93-93 with 1:20 on the clock, and Jackson Sartain gave the Blue & Gold the lead for good on a three ball with 46 ticks left. Vuyancih with a lay-up and Sean Flannery and Papich with free throws iced the contest over the final seconds.

John Carroll (7-1, 3-1 OAC) used 19-31 (.613) shooting from the field in the second half and forced 12 turnovers to engineer its comeback victory, reaching the 100-point plateau for the sixth time in eight dates this season.

A healthy bench effort in which the John Carroll non-starters outscored the Ohio Northern non-starters, 44-4, was also instrumental in today's outcome.

Vuyancih led the way for the Blue Streaks with 19 points, followed by Ryan Berger with 16 and John Cirillo with 14. Sartain and Greg Parella each scored 11 points off the bench, with parella achieving a career high.

Nate Burger led all scorers with 34 points while playing all 40 minutes for Ohio Northern (5-3, 3-1 OAC). Joey Diorio scored 25 (19 in the first half) in support of Burger's herculean effort, and also played all 40 minutes.

JCU has now won its last seven home games against Ohio Northern.

The Blue Streaks return to action on Tuesday for a non-conference tilt with La Roche on Tuesday, December 19. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.