JCU men win for No. 1 seed

Blue Streaks share regular-season title with Mount Union, have home court in OAC tournament

The regular-season job is complete for the John Carroll men’s basketball team, but there is still plenty of work remaining for the Blue Streaks after their 85-72 win at Wilmington.

On Feb. 18 though, the mission was to get a win, secure a share of the Ohio Athletic Conference title with Mount Union and earn the No. 1 seed and the home court for next week’s OAC tournament.

Mission accomplished, even if it wasn’t easy against the 8-17 Quakers.

JCU trailed at halftime, 48-45, before it outscored the host team, 40-24, in the second half and ran away with the victory.

The Blue Streaks (22-3, 16-2) will host an OAC semifinal game at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 against the winner of Marietta-Otterbein, who play in a quarterfinal Feb. 21. The OAC adopted a new tournament format this season with the top six teams in the conference qualifying and the top two seeds earning byes into the semifinals.

JCU will be the top seed over Mount Union by going 2-0 this season against third-place Heidelberg. Mount was 1-1.

The first-place finish is one Coach Pete Moran and his staff will savor a year after finishing last in the OAC.

“It’s special because where were we last year?” said Moran. “It’s everyone. Some guys were at different schools, and others were dealing with stuff. We overcome all that, and flipped the switch. And I can’t thank this coaching staff enough. They sacrificed a lot, and that’s where it all starts. The staff is outstanding.”

Leading the way for JCU was sophomore point guard Luke Chicone.