Mar. 1—It wasn’t pretty but it was pretty simple for the John Carroll men’s basketball team.
It survived. It advanced.
On March 1, the Blue Streaks opened the NCAA Division III tournament against SUNY New Paltz and led by 17 at one point in the second half before they posted a 85-81 victory.
The win sets up a matchup with Calvin, which defeated Elmhurst, 93-78, at JCU in the first game of the night. Tip-off is 8:20 p.m., and the winner advances to the Round of 16.
Junior point guard Luke Chicone (Mentor) had a huge game for JCU, and was clutch in the final minute.
With the Blue Streaks up, 81-79, Chicone drove the lane as the clock shot was winding down and dished to an open Luke Eller (Lake Catholic), who laid the ball in with 22 seconds left.
Chicone to Eller, @JCUMensHoops leads 83-79 with 22 seconds remaining @jcusports @NHPreps pic.twitter.com/p3tRCysOmf
— Mark Podolski (@mpodo) March 2, 2024
Moments prior to Eller’s layup, Chicone made two free throws with just under a minute to play for a four-point advantage.
.@lukechicone steal and 2 FTs puts @JCUMensHoops up 81-77 with minute to play @jcusports pic.twitter.com/cFJidaJWC7
— Mark Podolski (@mpodo) March 2, 2024
Luke Frazier (Lake Catholic) then made two free throws with 13 seconds on the clock to essentially seal the victory.
Chicone finished with 24 points and nine assists but also had help from five other players in double-figure scoring. Will Yontek had 17 points and six rebounds with Henry Raynor added 13 points and eight boards.
Frazier had 10 points but struggled shooting as he was 4 of 16 from the field but his two free throws were clutch. Eller had 10 points and seven rebounds and Chase Toppin also scored 10.
JCU (25-2) led by as many as 17 points in the second half against the Hawks (20-7), but New Paltz kept chipping away.
With less than 10 minutes to play, a key moment was when Chicone was fouled and made two free throws. But before that, a technical foul was given to New Paltz coach Keith Kenney and Chicone made two more free throws for a four-point trip. JCU’s slim 62-55 lead was suddenly 11.
Chicone then made a 3-pointer with 8 minutes remaining for a 69-57 lead. New Platz answered with two baskets to cut the lead to 69-61 but Eller answered with a 12-footer to push the lead back to 10.
New Paltz had another answer as A.J. Knight connected on a 3-pointer at the 6-minute mark to pull it with 71-64. Chicone answered again with a layup off an inbounds play from Henry Raynor.
New Paltz hung around for most of the first half on hustle, scrapping for loose balls and four 3-pointers — despite shooting just 38.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. New Paltz was also outrebounded 25-14.
Despite all of that, JCU led just 32-29 with a little less than 3 minutes to play before halftime. Then the Blue Streaks turned on its defense with stops and finished the opening half on a 10-0 run.
Eller started the run with a driving layup and Frazier followed with another driving layup. Free throws by Yontek and Eller pushed the advantage to 40-29 until Luke Chicone’s acrobatic layup in the final seconds made it a 13-point advantage.
Chicone had a big first half with eight points and five assists with Will Yontek leading the way with 11 points.
New Paltz’s leading scorers were Kobe Bogart with 16 points and A.J. Knight, who had 15.
THE SCORE
John Carroll 85, SUNY New Paltz 81
