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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Luke Chicone vs. Calvin on 3-2-24
Jose Figueroa
The Blue Streaks couldn't overcome a tough shooting performance.
71
Winner Calvin Calvin 24-4,12-2 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
66
John Carroll JCU 26-3,17-1 OAC
Winner
Calvin Calvin
24-4,12-2 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
71
Final
66
John Carroll JCU
26-3,17-1 OAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Calvin Calvin 31 40 71
John Carroll JCU 24 42 66

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Jack Stephens, Staff Writer

The Journey Ends for #2 Men's Basketball in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — In front of a packed house at Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center, the No. 10 Calvin Knights upset the John Carroll Blue Streaks, 71-66, to move on to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. 

The Blue Streaks' season concludes with a 26-3 record, departing from the postseason in the Second Round for a second straight year. 

"Obviously you've got to credit Calvin and their 'extra length,'" Blue Streak head coach Pete Moran commented after the game. "We had some shots that just didn't fall early, we weren't able to create any type of pressure and we weren't able to speed up the game how we wanted to."

It was all Calvin in the first five minutes of the contest. After an early 3-2 John Carroll lead, Knight senior forward Marcus Bult connected on three shots from beyond the arc, accounting for 10 points in a 12-0 Calvin run. The Blue Streaks struggled to get anything going offensively until Luke Chicone hit a turnaround jumper to end the run. 

Midway through the first half JCU was ice cold from the field, shooting 17%, until back to back buckets from Luka Eller and Will Yontek ignited the Blue Streak crowd, cutting the deficit to five. 

A physical next minutes where the cold shooting from JCU continued, and the Knights once again capitalized. Down the stretch of the first half, Knight guards Uchenna Egekeze and Luka Ressler accounted for the last nine Calvin points. That is, before Chicone drove through the lane, and converted a layup beating the first half buzzer. However, JCU was still faced with an uphill battle in the second half, trailing the Calvin Knights, 31-24, after one. 

The early onslaught from Bult was enough for him to lead all scorers with 12 points at the midway point. Egekeze also put in good minutes scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds while playing stifling defense on the Blue Streak guards. 

The Knights held John Carroll to 8-of-33 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep in the first half. Chicone was JCU's leading scorer with seven, while dishing out three assists. Jerry Higgins III put in good minutes, while it won't show up on the stat sheet, he made a positive impact shutting down the Knight playmakers off the bench in the first half. 

Luke Frazier opened the second half with the Blue Streaks' second 3-pointer of the night, the Knights' physicality continued, as 6 '10" sophomore Jalen Overway began to make his presence known on the low block, scoring six of the first 11 Knight points. JCU was still ice cold from the field and Calvin started to pick up the pace drawing fouls off transition layups. Anytime it seemed John Carroll started to pick up some momentum, Calvin went to Overway or Egekeze and they delivered. 

Calvin started to slow their pace down with the big lead, which led to a lot of one and done possessions. John Carroll did enough on both ends to trim the deficit to single digits. Chicone started to get the crowd on their feet back-to-back triples, cutting the Calvin advantage to one possession. 

Every JCU basket down the stretch was answered by a pair of Knight free throws. The Blue Streaks found themselves down by five after a couple of free throws from Chicone. After a timeout, Ressler broke through the JCU press and found Overway for a dagger layup, to seal the victory. 

Bult and Overway each had twenty points. The sophomore big man tallied his 16th double-double of the season, grabbing 10 boards. Egekeze was a force on both ends of the floor, shutting down John Carroll guards, while also scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 37 minutes of action. 

Chicone did all he could to lead the comeback, with 22 points, four rebounds and five assists his efforts were just not enough. John Carroll finished the game shooting 27% from the field and 21% from three point range. 

The Blue Streaks are losing three vital pieces to their puzzle, in seniors Luka Eller and Connor O'Toole, and graduate student Jerry Higgins III. However, those three laid the foundation for this junior heavy roster to once again make a run to the "Big Dance" next season. 

"There's people that come into our lives that really impact us," Moran stated about his group in the postgame press conference. "I can say with 100% honesty that these guys did a lot for me personally. These are John Carroll student-athletes, they are going to win some basketball games and get jobs."

John Carroll's 26-3 record is tied for the second most wins in a single season, in program history. With back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances under their belt, look for the team from University Heights to once again be a major contender in the OAC, and on the national level next season. 
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