Box Score
ALLIANCE, Ohio - Top seeded Mount Union suffered an 83-81 loss to No. 5 seed John Carroll in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Thursday in Alliance.
The Purple Raiders season ends at 20-6 overall and Mount Union, regular season champions of the OAC, will wait until Monday to see if they awarded one of 19 national at-large bids to the 62-team NCAA Division III Tournament.
John Carroll (18-10) got a game-high 19 points off the bench from freshman guard David Linane and the Blue Streaks, who have won three games in four days, advance to Saturday night's championship game at No. 3 seed Wilmington -- a 91-82 overtime winner at No. 2 seed Marietta in the other semifinal.
The game was a back and forth affiar that featured 17 lead changes and 15 ties including a 46-46 tie at halftime.
Six of those lead changes came in final five minutes of the game as a Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) three-pointer gave the Raiders a 72-69 lead with 4:38 remaining.
Linane would hit a pair of free throws and Jake Hollinger got a layup to give John Carroll back the lead 73-72 at the 3:16 mark.
Both teams would make four free throws and John Carroll held a 77-76 lead with 2:10 left in the game.
Linane would nail two more free throws to extend the Blue Streak lead to 79-76 before T.J. Gillespie (Toledo/Toledo St. John's) hit a jumper to bring the Raiders to within one, 79-78 but on the ensuing possession Joey Vuyancih would convert a layup and free throw to give John Carroll an 82-78 with 1:15 to go.
Mount Union would miss four three-pointers in the final minute and the Streaks would go on to an 83-81 win.
Griffin came off the bench to finish with a season-high 19 points, Jarrett Ruffin (Northfield/Nordonia) had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Gillespie had 13, Cody Dillon (Newton Falls/Newton Falls) had 11 and DeAllen Jackson (Akron/Hoban) came off the bench with 10 for Mount Union.
Newspaper Box Score
John Carroll vs Mount Union
2/27/14 7:30 PM at Alliance, Ohio - MAAC
At Alliance, Ohio - MAAC
JOHN CARROLL 83, MOUNT UNION 81
JOHN CARROLL (18-10)
David Linane 6-12 5-9 19; David Hendrickson 6-9 0-0 16; Joey Vuyancih 5-11
3-3 15; Jake Hollinger 4-6 2-4 10; Danny Wallack 1-5 3-4 6; Tim Ludlow 2-4
1-2 5; Jordan Murphy 0-0 5-6 5; Will Starks 1-3 0-0 3; Simon Kucharewicz 1-2
0-0 2; Doug Caputo 1-2 0-0 2; Nicholas Ruckel 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Hennessey 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 27-54 19-28 83.
MOUNT UNION (20-6)
Stevie Griffin 7-11 2-2 19; Jarrett Ruffin 4-11 6-11 14; TJ Gillespie 4-16
4-4 13; Cody Dillon 4-11 1-2 11; DeAllen Jackson 2-3 4-4 10; Jeff Foreman
3-6 0-0 7; Jimmy Darnley 2-4 0-0 4; Nate Jacubec 1-3 0-0 3; Miles Griffin
0-1 0-0 0; Kyle Scelza 0-3 0-0 0; Evan Keeslar 0-0 0-0 0; Michael Shull 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 27-70 17-23 81.
John Carroll.................. 46 37 - 83
Mount Union................... 46 35 - 81
3-point goals--John Carroll 10-24 (David Hendrickson 4-5; Joey Vuyancih 2-5;
David Linane 2-6; Will Starks 1-3; Danny Wallack 1-4; Tim Ludlow 0-1), Mount
Union 10-37 (Stevie Griffin 3-6; Cody Dillon 2-8; DeAllen Jackson 2-2; Nate
Jacubec 1-3; Jeff Foreman 1-3; TJ Gillespie 1-8; Miles Griffin 0-1; Kyle
Scelza 0-3; Michael Shull 0-1; Jarrett Ruffin 0-2). Fouled out--John
Carroll-Simon Kucharewicz; Tim Ludlow, Mount Union-Nate Jacubec.
Rebounds--John Carroll 38 (Jordan Murphy 5; David Hendrickson 5; Danny
Wallack 5; David Linane 5; Joey Vuyancih 5), Mount Union 40 (Jarrett Ruffin
12). Assists--John Carroll 9 (Danny Wallack 4), Mount Union 13 (TJ Gillespie
2; Nate Jacubec 2; Cody Dillon 2; Kyle Scelza 2; Michael Shull 2). Total
fouls--John Carroll 21, Mount Union 24. Technical fouls--John Carroll-None,
Mount Union-None. A-955
OAC Men's Tournament
