Coming off of their biggest win of the year, the John Carroll men's basketball team responded with a hard fought 91-83 loss against the Student Princes of Heidelberg University on Monday night.

In the first contest between the two teams on January 9th, Heidelberg dominated from start to finish. They go out to an early lead and followed Myron Prewitt's 30 points 26 rebound performance in route to their 92-65 victory. Tonight, the Blue Streaks could not flip the script.

A back-and-forth start to the contest featured exactly what haunted JCU in the first go around, Prewitt. Prewitt started 3-4 for six points and two rebounds in the first six minutes of action. Sean Flannery continued his hot shooting by nailing a three pointer to start the game and scoring the team's first five points. An Emil Hess fast break layup forced the timeout as The Berg held a one-point advantage (14-13).

Heidelberg would then go on a 7-0 run to jump their lead to 21-13, but the Blue Streaks would not go quietly. Despite, foul trouble presenting itself midway through the half, the Blue and Gold relied on their defense to get them back into the fight. John Carroll forced The Berg to a primarily perimeter game, which resulted in them shooting 2-12, 16 percent, from distance.

On the other side of the floor, Ryan Berger continued to get back into his old groove, going for 10 points on 4-5 shooting from the field. The Blue Streaks received a welcomed spark from junior Connor Fitzgerald, who knocked down three three pointers. By halftime, the Blue Streaks trailed 44-40, with Fitzgerald leading the team with 13 first-half points.

Heidelberg came out of the break on fire from beyond the arc. They would hit three consecutive threes to bump their lead to 55-46, but a Jackson Sartain three and a Luke Hippler layup would help keep the Blue Streaks within striking distance. A pair of Hess free throws at the 15:00 mark brought Carroll's deficit to 57-53.

For the rest of the way, Heidelberg would answer every John Carroll threat. As time ticked off the clock, the Student Princes seemed to get stronger while the Blue Streaks looked to wither, a product of two tough games in a three-day span.

An aggressive full-court press would get JCU to within four points with just over one minute to go. The Student Princes proved to be too much, however, finishing the game on a quick 4-0 run and completing the regular-season sweep with a 91-83 victory.
    
Heidelberg outshot John Carroll both percentage-wise and in attempts, shooting 50 percent from the field while attempting 74 shots, nine more than JCU. The telling stat, however, is the 16 Blue Streak turnovers on only six Heidelberg steals, which resulted in 18 points for the Student Princes.

Leading the way for JCU was Luke Hippler, who finished with 16 points on 6-9 shooting from the field. Sartain also became ranked fifth in program history for three pointers made when he nailed his first three ball of the night and 171st in his career. 

For Heidelberg, Prewitt finished the game with 26 points and 14 rebounds to finish the regular season with 56 points and 40 rebounds against the Blue Streaks.

John Carroll now stands at 9-12 (5-9 OAC) on the season. 

Up next for the Blue Streaks is a crosstown matchup against Baldwin Wallace (14-7, 8-6). The game is set Wednesday, February 6, with tipoff being scheduled for 7 p.m.