The John Carroll men's basketball team exacted revenge on Saturday as it hosted Capital in its first home game of the 2018 calendar year, defeating the Crusaders, 95-74.

On the final date of the regular season last year, the Blue Streaks fell to Capital by a one-point margin (76-75) in front of a full house that was in attendance to celebrate retiring coach Mike Moran.

John Carroll controlled the pace of the game, never trailing over the duration of the contest. After opening the first half with a 5-0 scoring run, the Blue Streaks continued to build their score to take a lead as high as 20 (36-16). Despite the Crusaders cutting the John Carroll lead to as low as six points in the half, the Blue Streaks held on and went into halftime leading 52-42.     

In just the first half alone, Ryan Berger and Matt Csuhran scored in the double digits. Berger led John Carroll with 14 points, shooting .667 from both the field (4-6) and beyond the arc (2-3). Csuhran followed with 11 points, with nine of his points coming from three pointers.

The Blue Streaks grabbed the momentum back in the second half, but not before Capital closed to within six at 55-49. JCU responded with an 8-0 run to provide some cushion before blowing the game wide open. By the 6:15 mark, JCU had taken its largest lead of the game (30) when Sean Flannery drew a foul to take a trip to the charity stripe, where he went 1-2 to make the score 90-60.   
  
The Berger brothers continue to be key contributors for the Blue Streaks. In his 20 minutes of play, Ryan Berger finished with a team-high 20 points and three rebounds. Jimmy Berger also led John Carroll in assists with seven.

In addition to Ryan's 20, four other Blue Streaks finished in double figures. Csuhran totaled 17 points, with Cirillo adding 14. Vuyancih and Jackson Sartain also chipped in 12 each.

On defense, the Blue Streaks capitalized on Capital's 29 turnovers, scoring 44 points as a result. As a team, John Carroll also tallied a season-high 21 steals, with Brian Papich leading the way with five.

With the win, John Carroll improves to 11-2, 5-1 OAC and remains in a tie for first place in conference standings. Capital falls to 6-7, 2-4 OAC and ranks seventh along with Heidelberg.

John Carroll will continue conference play next Wednesday, January 10, when they host the Cardinals of Otterbein University. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.