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John Carroll University Athletics

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Luke Chicone intro before Marietta game on 2-10-24
Sean Finucane

OAC Tournament Preview: Men's Basketball Set to Enjoy Home Court Advantage

| By: Deuce Zak, Senior Staff Writer
The Blue Streaks open the tournament on Thursday vs. Marietta at 7 pm in the DeCarlo Center. 
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS -- It's that time of year again, Blue Streaks fans. With the regular season concluded over the weekend, the OAC Tournament started on Tuesday. The Blue Streaks had the night off tonight because of their hard-earned No. 1 seed, but the OAC has shown all season long that it is a meat grinder. 

The Blue Streaks secured the top seed in the tournament for the second straight year but still have a tough road to winning the title. 

The format for this year's tournament is the same as last year's, with only the top six teams making the tournament and the top two seeds earning a first round bye. 

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Coincidentally, the Blue Streaks' possible semifinal matchup opponents were the same ones as last year, Otterbein and Marietta. A hot start by the Pioneers against the Cardinals spelled a 73-67 victory last night. 

The Cardinals' veteran-heavy team had a 3-win improvement from last season, entering the tournament with a record of 17-8 (11-7 OAC). Despite the dynamic duo of graduate student transfer Jack Clement and senior Cam Evans, the Cardinals lost at home on Tuesday. The Blue Streaks and Cardinals split the season series, each winning their respective home games. Otterbein ended John Carroll's chance at an undefeated season in conference play. 

Last night, the Pioneers critically finished the first half with an 11-2 run and took a 15-point lead, 39-24, into halftime vs. Otterbein. David Sanford tallied a pair of 3-pointers and Jac Alexander added five points, including a buzzer-beating triple. The Pioneers kept up a double-digit lead until the five-minute mark when Alex Hannah nailed a three-pointer for the Cardinals. Otterbein got within four points several times, but the Otterbein comeback bid came up short. Sanford guided the Pioneers' effort with 17 points.

Marietta enters as the No. 5 seed, with a rematch from last year's OAC Semifinals. Marietta managed to erase an 18-point halftime deficit a year ago to walk out with a 79-75 victory and a spot in the OAC championship. The Pios play a tough and fast pace style of basketball. Marietta is led by the senior trio of guards Jac Alexander, David Sanford, and forward Sahmi Willoughby. The trio averages a combined 34.5 points per game. Willoughby also finished second in the OAC in rebounds per game, averaging 10 total with 4.48 of those being offensive boards. The Pioneers finished with a 16-9 record (10-8 OAC). 

The Blue Streaks earned a season sweep over the Pioneers with two very tough wins. The first game of the series was played at Marietta where John Carroll jumped out to a 20-point half time lead. In the second half, the Pioneers played more to their brand of basketball but still suffered a 10-point loss in a 81-71 victory for the Blue and Gold. The second game, this time at John Carroll, started off about the same. John Carroll took a commanding 25-point lead with 3:25 left in the first half and went into halftime with a 19-point lead. However, the Pioneers came out hot in the second half seeming like they couldn't miss and slowly chipped away at the lead. With five minutes left, Marietta managed to tie the game up at 69 apiece. Despite their second half storm, the Pioneers were once again unable to overcome the Blue Streaks, with John Carroll narrowly escaping with a 82-77 victory.

On the other side of the bracket, the reigning tournament champion Mount Union Purple Raiders secured the No. 2 seed with a big win against the aforementioned Otterbein Cardinals over the weekend. The Raiders will take on the #3 seeded Heidelberg Student Princes. The Berg upended the #6 seed Comets thanks to a heck of a second half. 

After the loss, the Comets finished the season with a 16-10 record, including a 10-8 mark in the OAC. Capital is a young, physical group that gave conference rivals difficult matchups all season long. With signature wins over Mount Union and Marietta in Bexley, the team proved that it can be a contender in future years.

The Student Princes, interestingly enough, finished with a 15-10 regular season record with an 11-7 mark in the OAC, and won tiebreakers over Otterbein to take the third seed. The Berg has an athletic crew of players who all love to score around the rim. Led by Tre Watkins, they are poised to make it back to the semi finals once again this season. They performed well against the OAC this season, with the Blue Streaks getting the sweep over the Princes, but both games were very close. 

On Tuesday evening, Heidelberg dug a 41-29 hole by halftime in Seiberling Gymnasium. Watkins drained four 3-pointers to help Berg climb out of the hole, powering a 23-8 game-tying run. Zane Leitwein sank several critical triples down the stretch. A 17-4 Berg run capped by an Eric Panning layup put things out of reach later on, as Berg finished with 60 points in the second half. 

The Purple Raiders put themselves in good position to defend their OAC Tournament title, finishing the year with a 19-6 record, including 12-6 in the OAC. The national runners-up struggled at times during the year, but stars Christian Parker and Collen Gurley will surely be a tough duo to contain come tournament time. 

Tip-off at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center for Thursday's OAC Semifinal is set for 7 pm. 
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