With the same end goal in mind, no team takes tournament play lightly. JCU turned in a strong second half performance to march on. 

The second-seeded John Carroll men's basketball team (23-3) defeated seventh-seeded Capital University (12-14) by a final score of 83-71 in the quarterfinal match-up of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday night.

The Blue Streaks advance to the semifinals of the OAC tournament for the third consecutive year.

Ryan Farragher led JCU with 16 points. David Linane and Will Starks both contributed 14. Allen Stokes led all rebounders with nine.



Michael Green topped the leaderboard for the Crusaders with 19 points.

A quick 5-0 lead by Capital in the opening minute of the game did not last long. Will Starks put the Blue Streaks on top with a few three pointers, making the score 9-5.

The score was soon tied at 11 with 13:35 on the clock, but Capital's Joey Weingartner hit a three to regain the lead.

But Starks made his fourth three pointer to put the Blue and Gold up once again.

"I had confidence. I had been shooting all week," said Starks. "Everyone has to have confidence because this is what we've been waiting all year for, to get some wins in the tournament."

After exchanging buckets back-and-forth for a handful of minutes, the Crusaders gained an edge after back-to-back three pointers from Michael Green and Joey Weingartner. The Purple and Gray reached their largest lead of the half, 30-24, with 6:45 to play.

The Blue Streaks slowly chipped away at their lead. A John Cirillo layup evened out the game 30 with just over four minutes on the clock. With two minutes remaining, Linane lit up the gym with a big three to give JCU the lead, 39-37.

However, that would be the last score for the Blue Streaks in the opening half. Capital's Joe Thomas made a layup on their last possession to nearly beat the shot clock and put the Crusaders up 41-39 going into the second half.

JCU kicked it in gear coming out in the second half, starting off with an authoritative dunk by Simon Kucharewicz and a Danny Wallack three, which forced an early Capital timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Linane made a deep shot to put the Blue Streaks up 47-42 with 18:03 still left to play.

Capital caught back up, but the lead was short-lived. A Weingartner three with nine minutes left would be the last spark.



For the next five minutes, the Blue Streaks went on a 16-2 run, highlighted by back-to-back Doug Caputo layups, an electrifying Kucharewicz dunk, as well as a steal and assist by Ryan Farragher off a Capital inbound to Allen Stokes for another quick two. The Blue and Gold were up 76-65 with four minutes to go and Capital was forced to call a timeout.

From there on out, JCU ran away with the game. The Crusaders seemed to lose composure and started fouling, sending the Blue Streaks to the line every time.

John Carroll was 14-for-26 at the line, shooting 53.8 percent.

"I'm excited to play at home and we are looking forward to playing Mount Union," said Farragher. "We are going to come in tomorrow and get back to work."

 The Blue Streaks will take on third-seed Mount Union in University Heights on Thursday, Feb. 25 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.