The last time Marietta and John Carroll met was in the Ohio Athletic Conference championship game, where the Pioneers rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit to end the Blue Streaks' chance at the NCAA tournament.

John Carroll got its revenge Saturday, as the Blue Streaks rallied from as many as 18 points down to defeat Marietta, 90-80.

A crowd of 1,257 watched the game at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center, including former NFL coach and current Monday Night Football color analyst Jon Gruden. They were treated to an OAC grudge match.

Last season's OAC championship game weighed heavily in the minds of Blue Streaks players going into the game. Marietta's Trevor Halter hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to give the Pioneers a 88-85 victory and send his team to the NCAA tournament. Marietta eventually advanced to the 'Sweet 16.'

With the win, John Carroll improved to 6-2 in conference play and remained tied with Capital for first place. Marietta, who entered the game tied for fourth place, dropped to 4-4 in conference play in a disappointing loss for a team that was ranked nationally at the beginning of the season.

"This is the game we trained all offseason for," said JCU senior guard Corey Shontz, who scored a game-high 30 points. "Obviously the other games are huge, but we lost to [Marietta] three times last year and weren't going to let it happen again."

The first half was marked by a solid shooting performance by the Blue Streaks, hitting 50 percent from the field including 6 of 11 from behind the 3-point arc. Shontz and Mark Hester were red-hot in the first half, combining for 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Despite a strong start, the Blue Streaks committed 12 turnovers and Marietta took a 38-37 lead into halftime.

The Pioneers opened the second half on an 18-5 run highlighted by three consecutive 3-pointers that forced a John Carroll timeout with a little over five minutes gone in the half.

JCU coach Mike Moran was assessed a technical foul seconds later after arguing a charge call on Hester.

John Carroll used a timeout to regroup and find a way to steal the momentum back.

It worked.

Moran used his famed "platoon" system to his advantage during the next ten minutes, subbing in players in hockey-style shifts and keeping fresh legs on the court.

John Carroll went on an astounding 33-10 run from the 14:54 mark that eventually forced a Marietta timeout with 1:33 remaining.

Moran talked about the time out that led to the 33-10 run.

"There isn't much genius to the whole thing," Moran said. "We're a senior-laden team who has been battle tested and it didn't hurt that Marietta was tired [after the run]."

Despite a significant size disadvantage, the Blue Streaks dominated the boards, out-rebounding Marietta 44-31. From the start, John Carroll forced the ball into the paint to try and attack Marietta senior Kevin Knab in the post.

Knab led Marietta with 25 points and five rebounds. Tyler Hammond contributed 13 points, including two 3-pointers during Marietta's early second-half run.

JCU's Hester and Patrick Sweeney finished with 20 and 14, respectively.