In recent years, the Blue Streaks have shown no fear in journeying down to Marietta for a postseason basketball game. 

This evening was no exception. For the third time in five years, John Carroll went in to Ban Johnson Arena as the underdog and came away with an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament victory. Tonight, an electric first half by JCU proved to be enough cushion for what became an 86-79 triumph in a semifinal round match-up.

The win sets up a showdown with top seed and regular season champion Mount Union in Alliance on Saturday, February 29, at 7:30 p.m.

Marietta has lost just 21 times at home over the last ten seasons. Five of those have been to the Blue Streaks, and three have come in OAC Tournament action. JCU won an OAC title at Marietta in 2016 and then upset the Pioneers in the quarterfinal round last season.

This was the third meeting between the two teams this season. In their first clash, John Carroll fell to Marietta in an offensive shootout, 104-98. The Blue Streaks redeemed themselves at home on February 1 when they defeated the Pioneers in a defensive slugfest, 67-54. With two games of such different styles, it was hard to predict how this decider would turn out.

In the first five minutes, Marietta took as much as an eight-point lead over John Carroll. At the 15:08 mark, Jackson Sartain hit a three pointer, followed by a jumper from Jimmy Berger to bring John Carroll back into the game, trailing the Pioneers, 14-12. 

With 11:44 remaining, a jump shot from Sartain tied the game up at 17. John Carroll began to pull ahead when PJ Flannery drained back-to-back three point shots to give John Carroll a 23-20 advantage over Marietta. Sartain kept up with the trend, hitting another three point shot to put John Carroll up over Marietta 26-20 with 9:07 left to play, forcing Marietta to call a timeout. 

In the next four minutes, John Carroll went on a 13-7 scoring run, putting the Blue Streaks ahead of the Pioneers, 39-27 with 5:15 remaining in the opening half.

Marietta attempted to make a comeback before the end of the half, but their efforts came up short. In the final four minutes of the first half, John Carroll went on a 15-7 scoring run, making the halftime score, 54-36. 

A three point shot from Ryan Berger started off the second half, setting the tone for a 10-3 scoring run over the next two minutes, putting John Carroll up over Marietta, 64-39, with 18:01 to play in regulation. It would be the Blue Streaks' largest lead of the game.

As the Pioneers have done many times this season, a second half surge was bound to take place. Over the next five minutes, Marietta worked to decrease its deficit to 10 points with a 17-5 scoring run, making the score 66-56 with 13:02 remaining.

The onslaught continued as the vociferous home crowd got behind their home team as they chipped away at the Blue Streaks lead. The Pioneers closed to within five points at 70-65 with 7:34 remaining in regulation.

John Carroll answered with a six-point scoring run of their own, putting the Blue Streaks up over the Pioneers, 76-65, with 5:46 left to play in regulation.

Marietta had one last gasp, as Caleb Hoying hit a jumper with 2:32 left to pull the hosts to within four points at 76-72, but JCU was a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line over the final 2:20 to preserve its lead. Ryan Berger, Jimmy Berger and Sean Flannery all contributed to that important stretch of tosses.

John Carroll's offense was led by Ryan Berger with 21 points and Jackson Sartain with 18. Luke Hippler tallied nine rebounds and Ryan Berger contributed an additional six. Sean Flannery dished out seven assists for the Blue Streaks.  

"It shows character," John Carroll Assistance Coach Frank O'Brien said of the team's win. "We are very proud of the way that the seniors have stepped up to lead the team through the post season." 

It was definitely a tale of two halves as JCU was 19-32 (.593) from the field and 12-21 (.571) from three in the opening 20 minutes before struggling in the second half, where its numbers were 8-28 (.286) from the floor and 2-13 (.154) from beyond the arc. The Blue Streaks did go 14-16 (.875) in the second half at the charity stripe which loomed large in the final outcome.

The Blue Streaks will play in their 10th OAC title game Saturday, all since 2003. JCU is 5-4 in league championship games, last winning in 2018.