Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Chase Toppin file photo vs. Heidelberg
Jose Figueroa
91
Winner John Carroll JCU 11-4,6-2 OAC
64
Muskingum MUSK 8-7,6-2 OAC
Winner
John Carroll JCU
11-4,6-2 OAC
91
Final
64
Muskingum MUSK
8-7,6-2 OAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Carroll JCU 39 52 91
Muskingum MUSK 37 27 64

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Aiden Ramsden, Staff Writer

Men's Basketball Makes a Statement, Roaring Past First-Place Muskingum

Chase Toppin helped to steer the dominant second-half effort for JCU

NEW CONCORD – For the second straight game, the Blue Streaks faced off against a team tied for first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings. 

This time, it was on the road against Muskingum University. After a tight first half, the Blue Streaks used a second-half surge to come away with a dominant 27-point win, 91-64.

With the victory, John Carroll has won eight straight, moving to 6-2 in conference play. 

Will Yontek got the scoring started with an early layup and Luke Frazier came up on the next possession with a pull up 3-pointer. The Muskies would respond and go on a 9-0 run to gain a lead, but another Frazier three put an end to that, and a Yontek tip-in regained the lead for JCU. Muskingum retook the lead, but back-to-back layups by David Gentry set the momentum in favor of the Streaks just five minutes into the game.

The next 15 minutes consisted of the teams trading mini-runs. A pair of free throws by Frazier and layups by Gentry, Kasey Hunt, and Henry Raynor maintained the lead for the Blue and Gold. The Fighting Muskies got as close as three, but John Carroll continued to provide rebuttals.

A Chase Toppin three set ahead the Blue Streaks up by eight, but a late scoring surge by Muskingum settled the halftime score at 39-37 JCU. 

The halftime message was simple, 'We're a good team, but so are they.' The game was going to come down to which team could make more winning plays down the stretch. 

The second half started with the Muskies taking back the lead thanks to a trio of free throws. but an Aidan Fitzgerald three put John Carroll back up, this time for good. The Blue Streaks slowly built a bigger lead that reached the double digit mark with just over 11 minutes to play. 

Another Fitzgerald three ignited a massive John Carroll run. Two minutes later, an empathetic Frazier to Yontek alley-oop had the entire bench going crazy. 

A steal and dunk by Toppin, which oddly resembled Jack Sawyer's late game heroic touchdown for the Buckeyes last week, gave his team a 21-point lead. Toppin followed up his dunk with back-to-back threes to close out a 14-2 run. 

After that explosion, the game began to slow down with both teams beginning to sub out their main players. Layups by Omar Abuhamdeh and Michael Condoleon pushed John Carroll a 30-point lead, but a late Muskingum three would make the score look a little bit better. 

With today's 91-64 win the Blue Streaks remain in second place in the OAC, sitting behind Mount Union. 

"This is a big win, it's a statement win," said senior guard Chase Toppin. "We know we're heading in the right direction and it's games like this we use to build off and keep us rolling." 

Luke Frazier led the way with an 18 point, 12 rebound double-double. Chase Toppin added 17 points, thanks to a great day from beyond the arc, going 3-for-4. 

The boys down low added some big plays, with Will Yontek and Henry Raynor scoring 14 and 12 points, respectively. David Gentry had a huge day off the bench, piling on an additional 12.

Up Next 
The Blue Streaks will head to Berea for a matchup with rival Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday, January 22. Tip-off is set for 7 pm. 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors