John Carroll earned its first Ohio Athletic Conference victory of the season Saturday afternoon, defeating Muskingum by a final score of 88-79. at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

In leading from start to finish, the Blue Streaks improved to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the OAC.

Both teams came into today's contest looking for their first conference victory of the season. John Carroll was also looking for its first victory at home this season, and showed that eagerness by starting the game on a 7-0 run while defensively forcing two back-to-back shot clock violations from Muskingum.

John Carroll found success early from behind the arc, making four of its first seven attempts, to establish a 20-6 lead with 13:36 remaining in the first half.

Junior Marcus Dempsey kept Muskingum in the game scoring the team's first six points and 14 overall in the first half. When the first 20 minutes concluded, the Blue Streaks held a 47-32 at the break. Jimmy Berger led the Blue Streaks with 13 points and two assists. Greg Parella contributed 10 points, while Jackson Sartain and Sean Flannery each contributed eight points. As a team, John Carroll made a total of eleven three-point field goals, shooting 44% from behind the arc.

Muskingum came out firing to start the second half, scoring the first six points in just over one minute, four of which came from Dempsey, to force a quick time out from the Blue Streaks. Out of the stoppage, Parella and Berger would score for JCU, after which sophomore Luke Hippler scored his first five points of the game on back-to-back possessions for the Blue Streaks to push lead back to eleven (57-46) with 15 minutes remaining.

JCU went cold in the second half from long range, which helped the Muskies hang around.  With 5:33 left to go in the game, a layup by Devon Peart put Muskingum only eight points behind at 72-64 

Sartain immediately answered for the Blue Streaks at the other end, knocking down his third 3-pointer of the game. From there, the lead fluctuated between seven and 12 points for the remainder of the game.

Jimmy Berger led all scorers with a career-high 30 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds. Sartain finished with 13 points for the Blue Streaks, shooting 3-6 from 3-point range. Parella and Sean Flannery contributed 14 and 11 points, respectively.

In addition to his scoring, Flannery ended the day with a eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals -- all team highs.

Dempsey recorded 25 points and four rebounds for Muskingum. Brandon Keyes and Peart contributed 20 points and 12 points, respectively. Keyes finished the afternoon a game-high 17 rebounds.

The Blue Streaks continue their OAC schedule next Saturday, December 15th, as they travel to Ada, Ohio, to take on the Polar Bears of Ohio Northern University at 2 pm.