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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Chase Toppin at Mount Union
Ben Peskar
The loss was JCU’s first of the young season. 
72
John Carroll JCU 6-1,1-1 OAC
75
Winner Mount Union MTU 6-1,1-1 OAC
John Carroll JCU
6-1,1-1 OAC
72
Final
75
Mount Union MTU
6-1,1-1 OAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Carroll JCU 32 40 72
Mount Union MTU 27 48 75

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | JCUSID

#9 Men's Basketball Falls Narrowly at #6 Mount Union

ALLIANCE – Anticipation was high this week in the run-up to #9 John Carroll Men's Basketball vs. #6 Mount Union.

The first half was a closely contested affair, with JCU holding the upper hand. But in the second half, Mount Union clamped down on defense.

The Blue Streaks threatened a late comeback, but ran out of time in a 75-72 defeat in Alliance.

The loss was JCU's first of the young campaign, dropping the Blue Streaks to 6-1 on the year.

The teams traded points in the opening minutes. Neither team took a two-possession lead until 13:09 when JCU's Connor O'Toole buried a nice three to push JCU ahead, 15-11. Mount Union rallied with a modest 7-0 run to fire ahead 20-17 at the 9:06 mark. 

The teams traded the lead for the next five minutes before the JCU offense again found a groove. Omar Abuhamdeh sank a triple off an Eric Hanna assist with 4:42 left. The Blue Streaks did not relinquish the lead the rest of the half. 

John Carroll ended the opening half with a 4-0 run, as Luka Eller hit a pair of free throws and Chase Toppin got a driving layup to set JCU ahead at the break, 32-27. 

JCU's defense helped make the difference early, as the hosts shot just 2-of-13 from behind the arc and 31.3% overall. JCU shot 40.6% overall, though this was the lone statistical category with a major difference, as the teams played very close as expected. 

The Blue Streaks came out swinging in the second half, as Toppin scored the first four points of the stanza. Mount Union responded in kind with an 8-0 run, leading to a timeout by JCU at 17:44, as the JCU lead dwindled to 36-35. 

Will Yontek broke the spell after the respite with a well-timed layup. Two minutes later, Toppin drilled a wonderful 3-pointer, though Mount Union got back at JCU with a couple quick buckets. Mount Union at last got the lead back with 12:54 to play, but Abuhamdeh replied with a driving layup, juking Raiders all the way and drawing a foul. 

But the Purple Raiders were unfazed, firing up a 6-0 run, leading to a trademark JCU rolling timeout. Luke Frazier stopped the run with a pull up jumper, but the Purple Raiders started to feed off the home energy, moving ahead 55-47 at the midway point of the half. The defensive pressure applied by the Purple Raiders proved difficult for the Blue Streaks to counter. 

Following a Mount Union timeout at 9:33, Luke Frazier hit a free throw, but then JCU went cold, as Mount Union used a couple transition buckets to move to 60-48, leading to a John Carroll timeout. 

The Blue Streaks looked to counterpunch, as Henry Raynor threw down a dunk at 5:28, and a Mount Union timeout followed. John Carroll slimmed the margin to six with a couple Frazier free throws, and further still when Frazier sank a pretty jumper from the free throw line at 3:23, leading the hosts to call timeout with the lead down to five. 

But Mount Union's advantage slimmed no further. John Carroll did get it back down to five with 15 seconds left, 72-67, but Mount Union hit the necessary free throws to win it. 

John Carroll finished 40.9% from the field, as opposed to 42% for Mount Union, as the Purple Raiders simply hit a couple more shots. Each team was cold from deep, as the squads combined to shoot 7-of-34 from downtown. JCU did own a 47-39 advantage in rebounds and a 44-42 advantage in points in the paint. But a 19-10 advantage on fast breaks for the Purple Raiders made a difference. 

Chase Toppin led the offense with a season-best 20 points. Luke Frazier was the only other Blue Streak in double figures with 17 points. Will Yontek registered 9 points and 7 rebounds. 

John Carroll will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, as the Blue Streaks host Capital for a 2 pm showdown. 
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