JCU men gets first win; women 5-0

After a 10-day pause because of COVID-19 protocols, three canceled games and a whole lot of uncertainty entering his team’s crosstown rivalry game against Baldwin Wallace, Coach Pete Moran was one proud coach Feb. 5.

The John Carroll men’s basketball team responded with its first victory of the season, 69-66, over the visiting Yellow Jackets.

“Mentally, this feels like one of the better wins we’ve had in four years here,” said Moran, now in his fourth year as Blue Streaks coach.

“These guys have been through a lot. We had some Zoom film study with the guys during their quarantine, and my brother (and assistant) Pat had them on cardio workouts, and you could tell. They looked ready.”

JCU (1-1) took its largest lead of the first half, 31-24, on a Luke Hippler layup at the 4:23 mark, but BW (14) went on its own run and closed the gap to 33-32.

In the second half, the Yellow Jackets tied the game at 42, but a Jackson Sartain 3-pointer pushed JCU’s lead to 47-42 until BW took a 55-51 lead after a 13-4 run.

The game was tied at 60 with a little less than five minutes remaining in the game, and JCU scored nine of the game’s final 15 points to earn the victory.

Seniors Sartain (19 points) and Hippler (15 points, five rebounds) paced the Blue Streaks.

Sophomore Eric Hanna had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Mason Trubisky (Mentor) added eight points and three rebounds.

“Our senior leadership kind of prevailed tonight,” said Moran.

JCU made just seven 3-pointers, but outscored BW in the paint, 34-20.

BW’s Shane Zelba of Mentor scored 11 points, had six rebounds and six steals and dished out three assists.

The teams meet again Feb. 6 at BW starting at 6 p.m.

JCU women 5-0

Olivia Nagy and Nicole Heffington (Mentor) each scored 15 points as the JCU women outscored host BW, 25-10, in the fourth quarter en route to a come-from-behind 60-53 win.

Nagy added 15 rebounds, and Huffington had five boards and three assists. Izzy Andrews (13 points) and Lilly Edwards (12 points) led BW.

The teams play again Feb. 6 at JCU. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.