UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — John Carroll ended the first half on a 13-3 run to lead the Blue Streaks past the Wilmington College men’s basketball team, 87-79, Saturday in Ohio Athletic Conference action at the DeCarlo Center.
Wilmington (6-9 overall, 1-7 OAC) has now lost three straight games and will return home 7 p.m. Wednesday to conclude the first half of OAC play by hosting Otterbein (7-8 overall, 3-5 OAC). It will be a color rush event in which Wilmington, and its fans, will be wearing green.
“We were ready for this game,” said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. “We came out and jumped on them, but we had a five minute lull to end the half. We got stagnant offensively.
“I loved our fight and we got back into the game. We cut it to single figures and had opportunities to cut it further. We just have to get better and trust the process. I believe we have the chance to do something special in the second half of the season.”
The Fightin’ Quakers scored nine of the game’s first 11 points, but JCU responded with 11 straight to reclaim the lead. The team fought back and forth, and following a three-pointer by sophomore Andrew Russell, Wilmington trailed by just five points with five minutes remaining in the first half.
But the aforementioned offensive hiatus enabled the Blue Streak to build a comfortable halftime advantage.
Junior Nathan Scott and freshman Kameron Moore combined to score all of WC’s points during a 12-2 to pull Wilmington to within six points with 12 minutes remaining.
The teams traded runs, but Wilmington couldn’t mount one more run to overcome its halftime deficit.
Scott finished with 17 points and five rebounds in his first start of the season, while Russell chipped in with 14 points and a season-high eight boards.
Moore dropped in a career-high 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a season-high 14 minutes.
SUMMARY
January 14, 2017
@DeCarlo Center, University Heights
John Carroll 87 Wilmington 79
WC 30.49…..79
JC 45.42…..87
(79) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) C. Jones 3-2-0-8 Scott 6-3-2-17 Iles 3-1-2-9 Chatman 4-0-0-8 Patrick 1-1-0-3 Smith 1-0-1-3 Moore 5-0-2-12 Lewis 1-1-0-3 Russell 5-4-0-14 J. Jones 1-0-0-2 Greene 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 30-12-7-79
(87) JOHN CARROLL (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Kucharewicz 1-0-0-2 Berger 6-1-0-13 Linane 3-0-0-6 Papich 0-0-0-0 Ludlow 2-1-1-6 Cirillo 4-0-11-19 Caputo 6-0-3-15 Vuyancih 4-2-0-10 Williams 0-0-0-0 Csuhran 5-3-2-15 Flannery 0-0-0-0 Bidar 0-0-1-1. TOTALS 31-7-18-87
