The Blue Streak men's basketball team has not been a big fan of dramatic finishes this season.
Therefore, it with much glee that John Carroll disposed of both drama and Ohio Northern in convincing fashion, scoring 22 of the first 27 points of the contest to roll past the Polar Bears, 92-59, in Ada Saturday afternoon.
Box Score
John Carroll's first nine wins this season were by an average of 17 points, while its first five losses were by an average of seven points. Throw out a 22-point loss to Bethany and the other four defeats are by a combined 12 points.
The Blue Streaks appeared to have full knowledge of this arithmetic, as they wasted little time in dispatching the host Polar Bears. JCU drained nine of is first 12 shots from the floor in building a 22-5 lead over the first nine minutes.
The Polar Bears did threaten the Blue Streaks at one juncture. Using a 16-5 run of their own, the Polar Bears pulled to within 27-21 on a Kyle Meyer jumper with 6:42 left in the opening half.
It was still a single digit lead for John Carroll just inside four minutes left in the period, but after Ezra Bradshaw drained two free throws with 3:42 remaining, it would be all Blue Streaks from there on out. Chris Zajac's three-point play jump started a 9-0 run over the next three minutes that pushed the JCU advantage to 46-28.
John Carroll's lead never dipped below 13 points the rest of the afternoon. Once the Blue Streaks pushed the lead over 20 points for the first time -- on a Tommy Lavelle lay-up with 10:34 left in the second half -- the floodgates opened. JCU led by as many as 35 points on three occasions before finishing up with its seventh double-digit win of the year.
Four players reached double figures for John Carroll (10-5, 6-3 OAC), which surged into a tie for third place in the conference alongside Ohio Northern with the victory. Corey Shontz led the way with 20 points, while Matt Crozier added 15.
Zajac and Tyler Kirsch both chipped in 11 markers as the Blue Streaks finished the game hitting 33-58 (.569) from the field, including 18-29 (.621) in the opening 20 minutes.
Ohio Northern (8-8, 6-3 OAC) received 18 points from Bradshaw and 14 from Meyer.