It's a game of runs.

A nine-point lead at for the John Carroll University men's basketball team was erased with a dominant second-half effort by the home team.

John Carroll traveled to Ada, Ohio, on Saturday afternoon in search of their second win of the season over the Polar Bears of Ohio Northern. Despite the intensity of the back-to-back ballgame, the Blue Streaks fell to the Polar Bears 73-71 in the final minutes of the competition. 
 
The John Carroll offense dominated the first seven minutes of the game. A 23-pointer from Sean Flannery at the 16:38 mark put the Blue Streaks up by 10 over the Polar Bears. Ohio Northern began to make a steady comeback, decreasing their deficit to just one with 7:15 remaining in the first half. Despite Ohio Northern's fight, John Carroll did not let up, collectively putting up 17 points on offense and only allowing seven points on defense throughout the remainder of the half.
 
John Carroll led 41-32 at half time. Jackson Sartain led the half with 14 points, six of which were from behind the three point arc. Jimmy Berger and Ryan Berger followed with seven points each.
 
Ohio Northern added four points to the board to start the second half, but Ryan Berger answered with five points in back-to-back offensive possessions, draining a 3-pointer with 16:43 remaining in regulation.The Blue Streaks kept rolling on offense, adding four more points to lead the Polar Bears by 12 with 15:19 remaining.
 
Once again, Ohio Northern began to make a steady comeback, tallying seven points in the next three minutes to trail the Blue Streaks 50-45 with 12:07 to play.  The remainder of the half was a back-and-forth scoring contest between the two teams.
 
Ohio Northern continued the positive momentum, going on a  9-4 run to tie things up at 54 with 8:47 left in regulation. A pair of free throws put the Polar Bears ahead for the first time in the competition at the 8:33 mark. Hippler answered with a layup tying things back up at 56. After a 5-0 scoring run, Ohio Northern lead John Carroll 61-56.
 
The Blue Streaks fired back with back-to-back layups from Fitzgerald and Ryan Berger, to decrease their deficit to one. ONU added two to the board in their next possession, but Berger answered with a 3-pointer to make for a tie ball game with 5:34 remaining. ONU went on another 5-0 scoring run to lead 68-63 with 3:03 left to play.
 
The next two minutes consisted of back and forth scoring from both teams, but John Carroll would once again respond to a deficit with a three point shot from Ryan Berger to make it a one point game with 1:35 remaining. Two good free throws from both teams resulted in John Carroll once again trailing Ohio Northern by one with 53 seconds left to play. With nine seconds left on the clock, Ohio Northern's Brandon Waugh was fouled. John Carroll rebounded his second shot but was unable to answer before the buzzer sounded, falling to Ohio Northern 73-71.
 
Ryan Berger led the Blue Streak's offense with 28 points, shooting 4-6 from the 3-point arc. Hippler led defensively with eight rebounds and Connor Fitzgerald contributed an additional seven.
 
John Carroll falls to 15-8 overall and 8-8 in the OAC. The Blue Streaks look to bounce back at home on Wednesday against Otterbein on senior night.