Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Men Basketball Vs Muskingum Semifinals
Peter Wangechi
62
Muskingum MUSK 14-13,11-7 OAC
80
Winner John Carroll JCU 21-5,15-3 OAC
Muskingum MUSK
14-13,11-7 OAC
62
Final
80
John Carroll JCU
21-5,15-3 OAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Muskingum MUSK 25 37 62
John Carroll JCU 40 40 80

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

Men's Basketball Fires Past Muskingum in the OAC Tournament Semifinal

John Carroll will now host Mount Union in the OAC Championship on Saturday at 2 pm

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The top seeded John Carroll Blue Streaks (21-5, 15-3 OAC) took care of business, defending home court on Thursday.

The Blue Streaks defeated the fourth seed Muskingum Fighting Muskies (14-13, 11-7 OAC), 80-62, in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinal. 

"We have been doing what we have done all year long, getting gritty wins," Luke Frazier commented after the game. "We have been playing together and for each other and that has led to wins."

John Carroll came into this meeting winners in 18 of their last 19 games, including a thrilling 90-84 overtime victory over the Muskies in their last time out. Earning their third consecutive regular season OAC Championship, the Blue Streaks were looking to run it back in the tournament. But first, they needed to take care of the Muskies. 

Just like the last meeting, John Carroll got off to a fast start in the paint. The duo of Will Yontek and Henry Raynor accounted for the 7 points for the Blue Streaks early. The Blue Streaks did not stop there as after a Muskingum jumper, David Gentry nailed only his seventh triple of the season to make it 12-4 Blue Streaks heading into the first media timeout. 

Muskingum scored the first four points out of the timeout, but a pair of free throws from Gentry ended the short run. A physical few minutes ensued with both teams starving for buckets led into the second media timeout. That saw JCU up 16-10 after a floater from Chase Toppin cutting to the cup.

JCU started to grow the lead after a tough turnaround jumper from Frazier and fastbreak layup from Aiden Fitzgerald. John Carroll's advantage grew to 11 after a thunderous dunk from Raynor on a pick and roll. After going scoreless for nearly four minutes, the Muskies finally got back on the board after a second chance bucket from Duane Davis. Quickly responded by another basket in the paint from Raynor off a great feed from Toppin. 

After both teams drained two free throws, junior forward Sean Collins joined the party with a converted three-point play to make it a 16-point game. After a layup from Muskingum, Fitzgerald connected on the game's second three pointer from the left wing to give the Blue Streaks a 34-17 lead after the final media timeout of the first half. 

Muskingum began to claw their way back into the game as their second leading scorer, Own Emig, started to get going offensively. The sophomore hit the Muskies' first three of the game and came right back and flushed a layup through contact. But the Blue Streaks did enough to maintain a commanding 15-point lead, taking a 40-25 advantage into the break. 

It was a group effort for JCU as all eight guys who checked into the game scored. Henry Raynor led the way, nearly putting together a double-double in the first half with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Aiden Fitzgerald was efficient offensively, scoring 7 points and going a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. The defensive effort in the first half for JCU will be used as teach-tape for Head Coach Pete Moran for years to come. As the Blue Streaks held the Muskies to 9-of-32 shooting and 1-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. While also forcing 7 turnovers and outrebounding their opponent 22-13. 

Coming out of the half, both squads traded baskets, but a Gentry layup gave the Blue Streaks their largest lead till that point, 49-30. Davis finally started to get going for the Muskies as he drained two layups and with a three from Luken Hill, the Muskies cut the deficit to 15. After a media timeout, Nathan Walker connected on a triple and Davis slammed home a dunk and all of a sudden it was a 10-point game. 

The lead would get down to single digits off a layup from Davis, the Blue Streaks quickly answered with an and-one from Luke Frazier. After Davis scored again, back to back electric finishes from Gentry and Raynor grew the lead back to 14 and forced a Muskies timeout.

After a few minutes of tremendous defense and timely free throw shooting from the Blue Streaks, Luke Frazier broke away on a Muskingum turnover, and put the nail in the coffin with a thunderous dunk in the final minutes. John Carroll advanced to the OAC Tournament Championship looking to repeat as champions. 

Luke Frazier and Henry Raynor both scored 18 points as Raynor tallied another double-double with 13 rebounds. Aiden Fitzgerald hit double figures with 10 points and four rebounds. Toppin was tasked with guarding one of the best guards in the OAC, Duane Davis, and he held him to 16 points on 8-of-18 shooting. 

"We threw a ton of different looks at him because he is such a great player," Frazier stated about the defensive effort on Davis for 40 minutes. 

The Blue Streaks, as a team, held one of the OAC's best offensive units to 62 points and 34% shooting from the field, the Muskies' lowest scoring output since the beginning of February. 

Up Next
John Carroll looks to defend their crown this Saturday as they take on the two seed and archrival Mount Union at home at 2 pm. 

"We just need to do what we do, play physical and together and hopefully come out with the win," Luke Frazier said when talking about the big-time matchup with the Purple Raiders this Saturday. 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors