In a battle of nationally-ranked opponents who began the day as part of a three-way tie atop the Ohio Athletic Conference standings, it was predestined that the winner would at least stay in a share of the league lead while the other would fall from the perch.

In front of a raucous DeCarlo Varsity Center crowd of over 1,400 Saturday afternoon, the host Blue Streaks toppled the visiting Marietta College Pioneers, 99-77.
 
With the win, John Carroll stays in a first-place tie with Baldwin Wallace, which had a convincing winner over Muskingum, at 8-2 in conference action. Marietta drops into a third place tie with Ohio Northern at 7-3 in league play.
 
The Blue Streaks also kept a perfect home record intact, going 6-0 at the DeCarlo Center this season.

Seniors Matthew Csuhran and Antonio Vuyancih led the JCU scoring with 18 points a piece, followed by sophomore Ryan Berger's 16 points and five rebounds.
 
A free throw in the second half gave Csuhran his 500th career point as a Blue Streak. At the end of the day, Csuhran sits with 505 career points in just 41 career games played.

Marietta junior guard Mel Shuler led all scorers with a career-high 21 points, chipping in two steals and two assists. Fellow junior Kyle Dixon followed closely with 16 points of his own.

The Blue Streaks won the opening tip-off and immediately jumped on the visitors. Senior John Cirillo opened the scoring on a first possession layup, and the Blue Streaks went on an 8-0 run through the first 3:25, forcing Marietta into a timeout.
 
Marietta's Mike Hall scored the first Pioneer points off of a free throw, before Csuhran re-opened the JCU scoring spree, aiding a 13-1 run to follow with the help of freshman Jackson Sartain and Ryan Berger. John Carroll led 21-2 before Marietta scored its first field goal of the contest at the 12:41 mark.
 
The Blue Streaks remained in control, and after Allen Stokes put in a two-pointer with 7:32 remaining in the first half, JCU had pushed its lead to 35-12.

The lead remained comfortable until the closing minutes of the half. When Vuyancih made a bucket at the 2:34 mark, the Blue Streaks still held a 17-point lead at 49-32. John Carroll, however, would not score again as Marietta collected the final six points of the half to make the score 49-38 at the intermission.
 
Marietta continued the momentum gained at the end of the first half with a strong start to the second. Dixon hit a three-pointer off of the second-half whistle to kick start a 10-2 run, fueled by a Dillon Young three-pointer and Caleb Hoyng layup, pushing the Blue Streak's to take their first timeout of the half. What had once being a 23-point lead had been whittled down to three at 51-48.
 
While John Carroll did not relinquish the lead in its wire-to-wire win, Marietta kept the pressure on well into the second half. It was still a five point game at 69-64 with 10:38 left when the Blue Streaks made a kick that the Pioneers could not answer.

Over the final ten minutes, Marietta was held to 2-11 shooting from the field, was forced into six turnovers and made just 7-16 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, JCU's Ryan Berger drilled a three-pointer to push the Blue Streak lead back to double digits (80-70) with 6:43 showing on the clock.. A quick Brian Papich layup followed by a Ryan Berger basket and another Berger three-pointer put the Blue & Gold up by 17 with a little over 5:00 to play in regulation.

The Blue Streaks finished the game on a 19-5 run through the final 6:46 of the game.

JCU shot 50.7% from the floor on the afternoon, and out-rebounded the Pioneers, 46-35.

The Blue Streaks next test will come this Wednesday evening, when the Mount Union Purple Raiders pay a visit for a 7:00 p.m. evening contest at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. Mount Union was one of two teams to beat John Carroll in the first half of the OAC schedule.