WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's basketball team led nationally-ranked John Carroll University 48-45 at halftime, but the Blue Streaks held the Quakers to 30.3 percent shooting from the field in the second half en route to an 85-72 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory at Fred Raizk Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The game marked the final contest in the careers of three seniors - Andrew Clark, Abdul Kanu and Noah Dado Additionally, the victory gave JCU a share of the OAC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming OAC Tournament.
JCU, ranked No. 6 in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, broke open an 11-3 lead on a Luke Chicone triple less than three minutes in. After a couple empty possessions from both sides, Wilmington Head Coach Micah Mills called timeout. After the brief break, the Quakers seemed to settle down as the hosts went on an 18-6 run over the next six minutes capped by an Obed Achirem layup put WC up 21-17.
Neither team could break away until Domenic Farley got the Hermann Court crowd into it with two triples. That spurred an 18-8 run that, after two Matthew Dugue free throws, gave the hosts their largest lead of the game at 48-38. The Blue Streaks closed the half on a 7-0 run, however, and trailed by three at the break.
Both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half, and while JCU continued that in the second half, WC couldn't keep pace. The Quakers led 62-61 with 10:57 to play, but scored just four points in nine minutes while surrendering 22 during that span.
JUC finished 31-of-59 (52.5 percent) while Wilmington was 27-of-66 (40.9 percent) from the field. Both teams made seven triples with the Blue Streaks holding a 39-31 rebounding advantage.
Individually, Chicone led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting while Henry Raynor, Chase Toppin and Jerry Higgins III also scored in double figures for JCU. Achirem had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the Quakers while Kanu and Farley also tallied double-digit scoring games.
Wilmington concludes its 2022-23 season with an 8-17 overall record including a 4-14 mark in OAC games.
