The John Carroll men's basketball team opened up conference play Saturday afternoon in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center by scoring 18 of the game's first 20 points in defeating Muskingum University by a final score of 115-74.

Head Coach Pete Moran's team continues the historic beginning to its 2017-2018 season as the Blue Streaks extend their offensive streak of scoring at least 100 points to a school-record five consecutive games.

The Blue Streaks got off to a strong start, taking a 14-2 lead just five minutes into the first half. Senior Tony Vuyancih went 2-3 from beyond the arc in the opening minutes to ignite the early lead for John Carroll. Senior Matt Cshuran also found his shot early, going 2-3 from 3-point range.

JCU had leads of 18-2, 30-9 and 44-18 before taking a massive 54-28 advantage into the locker room. John Carroll's defensive presence forced the Muskies to 10 turnovers and a 32% field goal percentage from the floor in the opening half.

Sophomore Jimmy Berger led the John Carroll offensive in the first half with ten points and six rebounds.  Allen Stokes also contributed nine points and ten rebounds for the Blue Streaks.

The Fighting Muskies responded aggressively in the second half, outscoring the Blue Streaks 10-5 in the first 3:09 of the half. But that would be the last grasp of momentum Muskingum would experience as the Blue Streaks scored 19 of the next 25 points to erase all doubt. Back-to-back-to-back three pointers by Luke Hippler, Vuyancih and John Cirillo pushed the John Carroll lead to 80-44 with 12:31 to play in the second half.

The Blue Streaks led by as many as 48 points before settling on the final 41-point margin.

Cshuran led the way for the Blue Streaks with 25 points and nine rebounds. Cirillo and Stokes each contributed 18 points for the Blue Streaks,

Stokes also grabbed 15 rebounds for his first career double-double, including nine from the offensive glass.

Five Blue Streak players finished the contest with double-digit scoring figures to fuel John Carroll's impressive offense effort.

Devon Peart recorded 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Muskingum.

JCU was 45-95 (.474) from the field including 15-35 (.429) from three-point range. The Blue Streaks outrebounded the Muskies 59-32, and had 30 offensive rebounds in that total. John Carroll also forced 20 Muskingum turnovers.

Defensively, JCU held Muskingum to 23-58 (.397) shooting from the floor, including 6-24 (.250) from beyond the arc.

John Carroll moves to a perfect 5-0 on the season, while Muskingum falls to 1-4. This was the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both teams

The Blue Steaks travel to Alliance, Ohio Wednesday, December 6th to take on the Raiders of Mount Union at 7 pm for their first conference road game of the season.