It had been a while since John Carroll topped 50 points in the first half of a game.

It had not happened in Ohio Athletic Conference game this season, and the previous occurrence in any game was against Keene State on December 29.

Apparently, John Carroll was due, as the Blue Streaks exploded with 59 points in the opening 20 minutes, boosting them to a 101-82 victory over the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets Wednesday evening at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

Ryan Berger started the game off strong for the Blue and Gold, scoring five points within the first minute against the Yellow Jackets, but Baldwin Wallace answered back with a 5-2 run. It looked like that would be the tone of the game.

The score remained close midway through the opening half. When Tyler Colombo dropped in a lay-up at the 10:28 mark, the Yellow Jackets trailed by just six points at 25-19. The Blue Streaks response was a 9-2 run over the next three minutes that pushed the margin to double figures. That is how it would stay for the remainder of the half.

The Blue Streaks led 59-40 at the break.

Jackson Sartain — who drained the final basket of the half ,a three-pointer that gave JCU its biggest lead of 19 points — led JCU in scoring going into halftime with 18 points. Ryan Berger followed close behind adding 16 points. 

After all the offense of the first half, the second half started off incredibly slow for both teams until Baldwin Wallace's Drew Sova broke the scoreless drought with a layup for at the 16:43 mark. A quick retaliation lay-up rom Sartain 16 seconds later helped get John Carroll's momentum going. 

Sartain's big night conrinued, as his three-pointer at the 15:48 mark gave John Carroll its first 20-point lead of the evening. 

The relentless Blue Streak attack continued as JCU would push its advantage to 28 points on three occasions before settling on the final margin of 19 points. Owen O'Toole had the honors of pushing the home team over 100 points on a three-pointer with 35 seconds left.

Sartain and Ryan Berger led JCU with 29 points a piece. Their efforts aided John Carroll to improve to 15-7 overall and 8-7 in league play.

Emmett Chambers added 12 points and Jimmy Berger chipped in five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Sean Flannery tallied eight points and a team-best five assists in the John Carroll victory.

As a team, the Blue Streaks shot 39-73 (.534) from the field and 13-27 (.481) from three-point range. It was the Blue and Gold's' second best shooting night behind a .563 clip against the aforementioned Keene State.

JCU is now in a five way tie for third place in the OAC with Capital, Heidelberg, Wilmington and Baldwin Wallace with three games left to play.

Sova and Anthony Mazzeo each had 17 points for Baldwin Wallace, which fell to 12-10 overall and 8-7 in the OAC.

The Blue Streaks look to take on Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, on Saturday, Feb. 15.