Nearly one year to the day after losing a teammate, John Carroll won an emotional game in his honor.

JCU senior Patrick Sweeney led the way with 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Blue Streaks defeated the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets, 89-85, on Wednesday night at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The team dedicated the game to Matt Crozier, a junior on last year's team who died in an accident over winter break on Jan. 5, 2011.

Senior Corey Shontz wore Crozier's No. 50 in honor of his late friend. His teammates will take turns wearing the jersey for the rest of the season.

Emotions ran high in Wednesdays' game, as the teams combined for 26 fouls in the first half and 31 in the second, including a technical foul from Shontz.

The Yellow Jackets were lethal from behind the arc in the first half, shooting 50 percent from 3-point range. John Carroll struggled, hitting just 11 of 28 shots in the first half. The team took just one 3-point shot and missed it.

Baldwin-Wallace led by as many as 18 before the break and took a 49-35 advantage at halftime, which did not sit well with coach Mike Moran and his seniors.

Whatever Moran said at halftime stuck with his team, as the Blue Streaks tore off a 9-2 run to start the second half. John Carroll converted on 57 percent of its shots in the second half, while the hard-nosed defense returned, holding the Yellow Jackets to 36.7 percent shooting.

The Blue Streaks took their first lead, 69-67, with 7:44 remaining. Both teams traded leads until senior Michael Hartnett hit a 3 to give John Carroll an 82-80 advantage with 1:40 remaining. Harnett finished with 10 points.

"We just played so poorly and flat in the first half," said Hartnett. "I pulled the other seniors aside at the half and told them we needed to get it together, because this was our last home game against them. I'm not much of a talker, but the team needed me to be."

Baldwin-Wallace pulled within one on a clutch 3-pointer from Grant Fairhurst with 5 seconds remaining. Free throws from Joey Meyer and Connor Sweeney iced the game in the closing seconds for the Blue Streaks.

The Yellow Jackets were led by junior forward Chris Ameen, who finished 14 points and four rebounds. Freshman guard Jaron Crowe was red-hot from behind the arc, making 4-of-6  3-pointers to finish with 12 points.

Despite boasting the top four 3-point shooters in the conference, John Carroll was content to fight their battles down low. The Blue Streaks only took five 3-pointers in the game, making three. Mark Hester and Kyle Hubbard worked near the basket, scoring 10 and 11 respectively.

The Blue Streaks finished with five players in double figures, including Sweeney's first career double-double.
"It feels awesome," said Sweeney. "To have that kind of game, especially with Crozier's anniversary coming up, feels great."

"We won as a team, and if we play like this, we can go far."