Stockton Sto 4-5,3-2 NJAC

106

John Carroll JCU 9-2,1-2 NCAC

Stockton Sto

4-5,3-2 NJAC

Final

Dec. 29, 2025

106

John Carroll JCU

9-2,1-2 NCAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Stockton Sto	36	45	81
John Carroll JCU	54	52	106

Summary
Box Score

Jose Figueroa

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 12/29/2025 7:56:00 PM | Aiden Ramsden, Staff Writer

Men's Basketball Breezes by Stockton in Albright Holiday Tournament Opener

Kyle Irwin poured in a career-high 15 points to push JCU into the championship game

READING, Penn. -- After a week off from games the John Carroll Blue Streaks returned to action in the first round of the 2025 Double Tree Holiday Tournament at Albright College. There was apparently no rust for the Blue and Gold to shake off as they bolted out to a 106-81 victory over the Stockton Ospreys.

The Blue Streaks improve to 9-2 thanks to extremely impressive efforts on both ends of the floor on Monday afternoon.

"All around, it was a great team effort, in all facets of the game," said senior Kasey Hunt.

The first half was a chaotic one, lasting 57 minutes of real time thanks to a combined 25 personal fouls as well as 2 technical fouls by Stockton.

Empty possessions by both sides to start the game were followed by a Kasey Hunt 3-pointer to get the day going and the Blue Streaks never looked back. After some back and forth action, Luke Chicone knocked down a triple to give John Carroll the lead four minutes in, a lead that would stay with JCU for the rest of the day.

Sophomore Jack Zapolnik followed with a three of his own to extend the lead. Stockton fought back to trail by just two at the halfway mark of the opening stanza. However, after a timeout, the Blue Streaks seemed to have flipped a switch, giving them total control of the game.

A pair of scores, including a three from Aidan Fitzgerald had John Carroll up by eight, the largest lead of the game and a margin that would not get smaller. With five minutes remaining in the half it was Kyle Irwin's turn to sink one from deep as the lead reached double digits, for good.

With just a minute remaining before halftime Justin Chapman was fouled and sent to the free throw line, after making the first Chapman was just about to shoot his second before the ref blew his whistle and issued a technical foul to the Stockton head coach. Chicone was selected to shoot the technical free throws, making one before Chapman returned to the line and made his second free throw.

The following defensive possession ended with an Irwin rebound, but before he could even take a dribble the play was whistled dead with another technical foul, this time being awarded to a Stockton player.

Chicone returned to the charity stripe, knocking down another free throw as the Blue Streaks went into the break with a 54-36 lead after ending the half on a 31-15 run.

Hunt wasted no time getting started again in the second half, scoring the first five points of the new half to give John Carroll a 23-point lead. The Ospreys responded with a 7-0 run but Chapman put an end to it with a pair of trips to the free throw line after battling through some physical play down low. Back-to-back Zapolnik layups followed by Brandon Rose joining the scoring party with a triple of his own pushed the lead back up to 23.

The Blue and Gold went on a two-and-a-half minute scoring drought before Irwin put an end to it with a tough finish down low. Hunt followed up with an 8-point run of his own including a wide open dunk that had the Blue Streak bench buzzing.

With the teams trading scores and a 24-point lead in favor of John Carroll each side began to call on the end of their benches. Junior Ryan Ioppolo made quick work of the opportunity knocking down back to back threes. A Michael Condoleon layup and a Cam Moore three closed out the scoring for the Blue Streaks as they advanced to the tournament championship in convincing fashion.

Kasey Hunt added onto his impressive season with a game-high 18 points. Jack Zapolnik followed up by matching his career high in points with 17.

"Just keep smiling, that's all, that's what we need to do and we'll keep getting better and get results like this. We love basketball and we love each other," stated Zapolnik while talking about what makes this Blue Streak team so dynamic.

Also matching a career high was Kyle Irwin, adding 15 points to go along with 8 rebounds, 3 of which came on the offensive end of the floor.

Once again, it was a great defensive effort that pushed the Blue Streaks to victory as they once again forced their opponent into turning the ball over 20 times along with holding Stockton to shooting just 43% from the field.

It was also a great day on the glass for John Carroll as they won the rebounding battle, 52-41, including 26 offensive rebounds to the Ospreys' 14.

"We continued to clog the paint allowing us to force hard two-point shots and secure rebound after rebound. Once we got it done on the defensive end, we pushed the ball and got easy buckets," said Irwin

Up Next
The Blue Streaks stay in Reading as they play for the Double Tree Holiday Tournament Championship tomorrow against undefeated Pitt-Greensburg, who beat Albright earlier today by a score of 75-74. Tip-off is set for 4 pm.

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