The Blue Streaks improved to 24-5 overall and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament Round of 16, while the Tigers lost their second straight game to end the season at 24-5. John Carroll moves on to sectional play at a site to be determined on Sunday.
John Carroll took the lead less than a minute into the game on a three-pointer by Jerry Angel and never looked back. The lead stretched to as much as 14 several times in the first half before settling in at that margin by halftime, 44-30. Wittenberg opened the second half with plenty of fight left, pushing the Blue Streak lead down to 10 on several occasions, but the Tigers never managed to push the advantage back into single digits. The game's largest lead was 23 points in the waning moments before Wittenberg Billy Bowen scored the game's final four points.
The Blue Streaks were the more athletic, deeper team on this night, a point punctuated by the statistic of the night - bench points were 52-15 in favor of JCU. The Tigers, hindered by the absence of sophomore center Dane Borchers due to a broken wrist suffered in last week's NCAC Tournament Championship game loss to Wooster, couldn't come up with the big shots or the big defensive stops against the Blue Streaks, who are slated to take on Maryville (Tenn.) in the Round of 16 on Friday.
John Carroll, which was outrebounded 39-34 by the taller Tigers but forced 16 Wittenberg turnovers while committing just eight, put 10 of the 12 players who saw action into the scoring column. Angel and David Gibbons led with 15 points each and Brandon Mimes added 14 off the bench. The Blue Streaks shot 49 percent from the field and forced Wittenberg into a 39 percent shooting night, including a paltry 3-of-20 from three-point range.
Wittenberg got game-highs of 25 points and nine rebounds from Peter Walker in the defeat and Daniel Russ added 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Also of note was the play of Kenny Brady, who chipped in with six points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.