Box Score Leave it to old rivals to stage a knockdown drag out affair for a conference opener.

It was never pretty but it was hard fought as John Carroll slugged out a 75-64 victory over Capital University Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity center.

Box Score

The first half of play between the Crusaders and Blue Streaks could be best summed up by two words: tough defense. A John Carroll team that averaged 93.8 points per game coming into their home opener struggled to put up their usual numbers in the first half against a tough OAC opponent.

In the first five minutes of play, JCU jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead only to have that dashed by seven unanswered points by Capital. The lead changed hands several times before Capital surged ahead 26-20 on a three-pointer by Michael Sommer.

As the half began to come to end, John Carroll offered up its own surge with senior Mark Hester putting an exclamation point on the Blue Streak scoring with a breakaway, two-handed slam to put JCU up 28-27.

Capital would respond however with a few shots of their own, closing out the half up 31-28.

The Crusaders continued to hold on to their advantage until Jeff Chahine gave the Blue Streaks their first lead since the beginning of the game by hitting a big three pointer with 13:40 to go in the game, putting JCU up 38-37. 

After falling behind again though, it was the play of senior, Patrick Sweeney that ignited the fire in the Blue Streaks offense with 9:20 left in the game, snagging two back to back, breakaway steals giving John Carroll a 50-47 lead. 

A third steal by Sweeney out of a Capital timeout resulted in another bucket for the Blue Streaks putting them up by eight points-- their largest margin in the game. 

The visitors closed to within five at 65-50 with under three minutes to play, but John Carroll put the game away following two technical fouls which led to the ejection by Capital head coach Damon Goodwin.

The leading scorer for the John Carroll squad was Corey Shontz, who shot 6 for 11 from the floor, followed by Mark Hester who finished up with 11 points for the day. 

"Our first game at home, we wanted to set the tone," said Hester. "Winning this game means a lot"