The John Carroll University men's basketball team made 11 three-pointers in the first half against visiting Ohio Northern on Saturday afternoon, leading for the final 38 minutes of the game in defeating the Polar Bears, 90-71.  

John Carroll would come out of the gates firing on all cylinders offensively at the DeCarlo Varsity Center, where the Blue Streaks have now won 56 of their last 69 games. The Blue Streaks began the game making their first eight field goal attempts (including 5-5 from three point range) to build a 21-9 lead and force an Ohio Northern time out.

The Polar Bears would close to within seven at 21-14, but John Carroll ended the first half on a 14-7 run to maintain its comfortable lead lead and would carry a 44-25 advantage into the second half.

Eight different Blue Streaks helped the team finish the half 11-16 from deep.

ONU could not keep up offensively as their top scorer, senior Ryan Bruns, accounted for more than 50 percent of the offensive point production. As a team, the Polar Bears shot 33.3% (10-30) from the field in the first half.

Ryan Berger would lead all Blue Streaks in scoring with 13 points while also nailing three shots from beyond the arc.

The second half would prove to be much of the same for both teams. Ohio Northern's three-point woes continued. The OAC's last ranked team in three point percentage made their first three pointer with 16:14 left in regulation. The 0-7 start from deep was then snapped by a three pointer by Colton Bachman.

The closest Ohio Northern would get in the second half was 13 points at 50-37 with 15:13 to play, but the JCU response was a 14-6 run over the next three minutes, capped by a three-point play by Patrick Daugherty, that pushed the lead above 20 points. Ohio Northern never got closer than 17 points the remainder of the contest.
 
Ryan Berger continued his strong day from the field, finishing with 22 points and draining five three-pointers in 24 minutes of play. Twin brother Jimmy Berger added 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Connor Fitzgerald (11) and Jackson Sartain (10) also finished in double figures.

It was also a historic day for junior guard Sean Flannery. After recording six assists in the game, he entered the top ten in program history for assists. Flannery also brought down six rebounds.

Nine different Blue Streaks made at least one three-point field goal as JCU ended the day 32-68 (.471) from the field and 14-26 (.538) from long range.

Bruns led the way for the Polar Bears with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Caleb Bryan added 10 points as well as Ohio Northern was eliminated from the OAC Tournament with the loss, marking the first time in 45 years that the OAC Tournament will not include ONU.

With the victory John Carroll improves to 10-13 overall and 6-10 (T-6th) in OAC play.

John Carroll will next travel to Westerville, Ohio on Wednesday, February 13 to take on Otterbein University in the final road game of the regular season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.