In a game with major Ohio Athletic Conference postseason implications, John Carroll used a big first half lead to secure a huge road victory against Ohio Northern by a score of 90-80.

The win keeps the Blue Streaks in sole possession of first place in the OAC with just two games remaining in the regular season. Marietta trails the Blue Streaks by one game, while Ohio Northern now trails by two. John Carroll holds the tiebreaker with both the Pioneers and the Polar Bears because the Blue Streaks have not lost to either team this season.

Ada has never been a place where John Carroll has found success. In 33 previous trips to the northwestern Ohio city since the series resumed in 1990, the Blue Streaks had won just eight times while losing 25.

Today would be different.

Ryan Berger and John Cirillo got the Blue Streaks off to a hot start to start, jump starting an 11-0 run by themselves in the first 2:59 of action. Berger knocked down two three-pointers, while Cirillo drilled a three of his own while adding a layup.

The Blue Streaks took their largest lead of the game when Antonio Vuyancih knocked down a three to give the Blue Streaks a 28-10 led with 11:31 remaining in the first half.

JCU still held a 30-16 advantage at the midpoint of the first half, but the ghosts of past trips to Ada began to surface as the second ten minutes of the first half would be all Ohio Northern. The Polar Bears outscored the Blue Streaks 29-15 over this span.

When Joey Diorio slipped in a lay-up just before the buzzer, the score was tied at 43-43 as the teams headed to the locker room.

The home team was led by Nate Burger, who scored 18 points in the first half for Ohio Northern. Leading the way for the Blue Streaks at the intermission was Cirillo with nine points followed by Matt Csuhran with eight, and Vuyancih with seven.

Over the first six minutes of the second half, neither team could gain more than a four-point advantage. But then Ryan Berger began to find his range. The sophomore knocked down a three followed by a Cirillo layup to give the Blue Streaks a five point lead with 12:52 to go in the second half.

Ryan Berger continued to be on fire from downtown when he knocked down his sixth three of the game to give John Carroll a 72-64 lead with 9:18 remaining in the second half.

Ohio Northern would cut the Blue Streaks lead to three with 5:28 remaining but two free throws by Brian Papich plus a Vuyancih layup would push the John Carroll advantage back to seven in favor of John Carroll.

The Polar Bears had one last gasp, cutting the Blue Streak lead to four with 1:56 remaining, but the Blue Streaks were able to close the door by finishing the game on an 8-2 run to secure the ten-point victory.

Burger led all scorers finishing with 33 points for the Polar Bears, who dropped 16-7 overall and 11-5 in the OAC.

Six Blue Streaks finished in double figures, led by Ryan Berger who scored a team-high 24 points while shooting 6 of 9 from three-point range. Cirillo tacked on 13 points while corralling a game-high seven rebounds. Jimmy Berger also found his way into double figures as he ended up with ten points while dishing out seven assists. Vuyancih (11), Csuhran (10) and Papich (10) were the remaining Blue Streaks in double figures.

John Carroll, which improved to 19-4 overall and 13-3 in the OAC, will host Heidelberg on Wednesday night in their final regular season home game. Senior Night will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.