Angst had a front row seat at the DeCarlo Varsity Center Wednesday night. Thankfully for the John Carroll faithful, angst left before the final buzzer. 

The Blue Streaks survived a 14-0 run by visiting Marietta midway through the game to pull out an 86-75 win in an Ohio Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal round match-up. 

Box Score

Both teams started out the night draining nearly every shot put up. In the opening nine-and-a-half minutes of the game, Marietta hit seven of its ten shots from the field while JCU made ten of its initial 13 attempts as the Pioneers and Blue Streaks combined for 44 points. 

After a Daun Lutes lay-up made the score 24-20, John Carroll would start to pull away. When Rudy Kirbus poured in a three ball from the right corner at the 7:09 mark, he gave the Blue Streaks their first double digit lead at 34-23. 

The Blue Streaks led by as many as 12 before Marietta would make a late run toward the end of the half. With Trevor Halter having a hand in all seven points (assisting on two baskets, sinking a free throw and hitting a jumper at the buzzer), the Pioneers used a 7-0 run to cut the JCU lead down to 39-36 by the intermission. 

Marietta would keep its run going with seven straight points to open the second half, and Halter's jumper at the 17:42 mark would put the eighth-seeded Pioneers up by four points at 43-39. 

The visitors would lead by as many as five points on five different occasions before the Blue Streaks would get their game back in gear. Using a 13-2 run that was capped by a Brian Dandrea three-pointer, JCU erased the last of its five-point deficits and took a 64-58 advantage with 8:09 to play. 

Once ahead, the Blue Streaks would stretch their advantage, pushing the margin into double digits on a Tyler Kirsch three-pointer with 3:42 left that made the score 75-64. 

John Carroll (20-5), which won its 11th consecutive game, had six players in double figures led by Maurice Haynes with 14. Matt Crozier added 13 and a team-high seven boards. 

Marietta (10-16) was paced by a game-high 24 points from Kevin Knab, who was 11-12 from the field. Halter added 22 points as the only other Pioneer in double figures. 

JCU had a decided edge at the free throw line, making 28-37 as compared to 9-19 for Marietta. Marietta only had four more personal fouls then JCU, however. 

Top-seeded John Carroll will host fifth-seeded Heidelberg in the OAC Tournament semifinals on Friday, February 26, at 6:00 p.m. #2 seed Wilmington and #3 seed Capital will follow at 8:00 p.m., or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.