John Carroll men's basketball scored the first nine points of the game, and never looked back on Wednesday night.

John Carroll (13-6, 10-3 OAC) defeated Otterbein University (7-13, 3-10 OAC), 97-58, in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The Blue Streaks have won 10 of their last 11 games heading into the final stretch of regular season play against Ohio Athletic Conference opponents.

David Linane and John Cirillo each scored 16 points. Linane had eight assists in the contest to bring his total career assists to 467. Simon Kucharewicz finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Ryan Berger also contributed 12 points.

The Blue Streaks meant business as they started the game scoring nine unanswered points. It wasn't until three minutes into the game that Otterbein's Corey Howard hit a three-pointer to slow down the Blue and Gold.

With 10:29 left in the opening half of play, the Cardinals managed to creep back up within four, 20-16. Matt Csuhran came through with a deep three from the left side of the arc. Csuhran managed to steal the inbound and found Noah Bidar under the hoop for another quick two.

The Cardinals struggled to inbound the ball after Bidar's basket and Csuhran stole the ball again. Cirillo capitalized on the possession as he hit a deep two from the elbow to extend the Blue Streaks lead to 11 with 9:45 remaining the first half.

During the final minutes of the half, JCU added the full court press to keep Otterbein on their toes. The Blue Streaks were able to force 16 turnovers and scored 20 points off those turnovers during just the first half.

The Blue Streaks continued to distance themselves from the Cardinals as they led by 26, 55-29, going into halftime. The first half was highlighted by two Simon Kucharewicz dunks, 10 steals, and 17 assists.

Cirillo was the high scorer of the first half with 12 points, and Csuhran had four steals. Otterbein scored a quick five points to start the second half, but Linane matched all five immediately.

With 16:45 on the clock, JCU went on a quick 11-0 run to make the score 73-37. However, Otterbein was able to shut down the John Carroll offense temporarily as they answered with an 11-3 run with 10:31 remaining to cut the score to 79-50.

Although the Cardinals' effort wasn't enough to rattle the Blue Streaks. The Blue and Gold captured their eighth straight win in University Heights. This ties the fewest points allowed by an opponent this season (at Otterbein on Jan. 11), the fewest in the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

John Carroll will take on Wilmington College this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in the Fred Raizk Arena.