John Carroll JCU 21-2,15-1 OAC

Ohio Northern ONU 9-14,5-11 OAC

John Carroll JCU

21-2,15-1 OAC

Final

Feb. 11, 2023

Ohio Northern ONU

9-14,5-11 OAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	OT 1	F
John Carroll JCU	36	41	18	95
Ohio Northern ONU	44	33	12	89

Summary
Box Score

Ben Peskar

Will Yontek provided a key block plus plenty of offense in the post.

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/11/2023 5:56:00 PM | Deuce Zak, Staff Writer

Men's Basketball Survives Polar Bears' Hot Shooting Effort in Ada with OT Win

ADA, Ohio -- The Ohio Athletic Conference is consistently one of the most competitive and talented conferences in NCAA Division III men's basketball, and a brisk afternoon clash in Ada proved as much.

The John Carroll Men's basketball team traveled west to try and spoil senior day for the Ohio Northern Polar Bears, and that turned out to be a monumental task.

In a game where the Blue and Gold scarcely led, the visitors clawed their way back from yet another double digit road deficit to down ONU, 95-89, in an overtime thriller.

Once again, the opposing team threw their best punch at the Blue Streaks in the first half. The Polar Bears came out firing, nailing their first three triples of the opening frame. The Clevelanders responded in the early going, as Chase Toppin and Luke Chicone answered every ONU bucket. However, that wouldn't last very long, as the Blue Streaks' 16-15 lead evaporated, and it would be the last time JCU stood in front until very late in the second half.

After a quick media timeout, the Polar Bears threw a haymaker at the Blue & Gold. Two free throws from Adam Scott would put ONU up, and the home squad started to run. The Polar Bears would end the first half shooting a scorching 8-of-11 from deep, and jumped out to an 8-point lead entering halftime, putting the Blue Streaks in an adverse, albeit familiar, position.

The second half was the opposite of a voluptuous walk in the park for JCU, but once again, the team showed its resiliency in a gritty, grind-it-out game.

Things got worse for the Blue & Gold before they got better, as the Polar Bears wasted no time stretching their lead to double digits, as Will Miller hit a layup to get the score to 48-38. The lead would grow to as much as 15 for ONU, but the Blue Streaks finally woke up and started clawing their way back. An Adam Scott layup made the score 59-44, and in response, the Blue Streaks pulled within 3 on the back of a huge 14-4 run.

The Polar Bears wouldn't roll over, countering the run with a 7-2 run of their own, but the visitors nabbed three straight stops and scores got them back to within 2, and the rest of the contest was a meat grinder.

Both teams ramped up the intensity on both ends of the floor, with both squads having to scrape and claw for every point they scored. JCU tied the game at 74 on a Henry Raynor layup with 3:30 left in the contest, and the next bucket by either team would come 90 seconds later from Toppin off a steal. Both teams hit 3 free throws in the final minute to knot the game up at 77, and the Blue Streaks missed a buzzer beater 3-point attempt, which sent the game to overtime.

The extra period was all Blue Streaks. The initial stages of the frame were back and forth with both teams trading buckets, but a huge block by Will Yontek provided the separation JCU needed to put the game away. Luke Chicone nailed 6 clutch free throws in the final minute for the Blue Streaks. And despite a made three by the Polar Bears keeping it close, Chase Toppin sealed the deal at the line, completing yet another comeback for the Blue and Gold, spoiling senior day with a 95-89 OT victory.

It took everyone for the Blue Streaks today, and the box score reflected that. Luke Chicone and Chase Toppin both notched 19 points in the win, Chicone also netting a double-double with 10 assists. Luke Frazier once again provided a huge scoring boost, hitting 7-of-14 from the field, scoring 15.

Henry Raynor and Jerry Higgins were huge, both scoring 14 points and pulling down a combined 14 rebounds. Will Yontek also put forth a massive effort on both sides, adding 12 points, grabbing 8 boards, and making the pivotal block that gave the Blue Streaks separation.

In the OAC, winning on the road is never easy, especially in a hostile environment like the ONU Sports Center, yet the Blue Streaks rose to the challenge of a big, rowdy crowd, and once again got a second half spark to win the game. The win keeps the squad in first in the conference at 15-1, and improves JCU's overall record to 21-2 on the season.

The road does not get any easier for the last two regular-season games, as they head to Berea on Wednesday, facing the Yellow Jackets of Baldwin-Wallace. With one win, JCU clinches a share of the OAC regular-season title. Two wins would clinch the crown outright.

The good news is that the Blue Streaks have clinched an opening round bye, so JCU will host an OAC Tournament Semifinal contest on Thursday, Feb. 23.

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