The John Carroll University men's basketball team found its spark against the University of Mount Union on Wednesday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center, defeating the Purple Raiders 82-69.

A revival of sort is brewing, as John Carroll is now 2-0 to start the second half of the Ohio Athletic Conference schedule after finishing the first half 2-7.

John Carroll set the tone early by making its first three shot attempts from the field -- all from three-point range -- to open up a 10-4 lead early on.

Mount Union, who had defeated John Carroll 95-74 in the first meeting, would respond. The Purple Raiders took their first and only lead at 21-18 near the midpoint in the opening half, but that was short lived as the Blue and Gold scored the next five points to grab the advantage back.

The score was 23-23 when perhaps the game's only true turning point occurred. A steal by Mount Union on a pass near mid-court led to a wide open fast break. But the dunk attempt was missed, sending the ball careening out of bounds. On the very next trip down the floor, Sean Flannery buried a three-point field goal, igniting a 26-10 run over the final 9.31 of the half.

When the two teams headed to the locker room, JCU led by a 49-33 score. 
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Sean Flannery, who closed out the opening 20 minutes with a lay-up at the buzzer, scored 14 points, shooting 4-6 from beyond the arc. Jimmy Berger chipped in 12, while Ryan Berger and Luke Hippler combined for 21 points in the half. Flannery and Jimmy Berger also tacked on four assists apiece.

John Carroll continued their offensive stride in the second half, taking a lead as high as 20 points (78-58) with 8:05 to play. Despite only scoring four points the rest of the way, John Carroll was never threatened, as the advantage remained in double digits all the way to the final horn.
         
Flannery finished the night leading the JCU offense with a career-best 21 points, while Hippler and Ryan Berger followed with 19 and 13, respectively. Jimmy Berger also recorded his first double-double of the season, finishing the game with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists.

On defense, Flannery tallied three steals in addition to Hippler totaling all three Blue Streak blocks.  

As a team, the Blue Streaks shot .485 (33-68) from the field and .414 (12-29) from beyond the arc. John Carroll also took advantage of the Mount Union mishaps, tallying 18 points off of 15 turnovers.

Nathan Bower-Malone led Mount Union with 19 points, while Tommy Stegner - who scored a career-high 30 points against John Carroll in the first match-up -- was held to two points.

With the win, the Blue and Gold ( (8-10, 4-7 OAC) split the regular-season series with the Purple Raiders (14-4, 8-3 OAC) .

John Carroll will next travel to #10 Marietta College on Saturday, January 26. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.  Marietta fended off the Blue Streaks, 82-75, in the first meeting between the two teams in University Heights on December 1.