For the first time since 2009, the John Carroll men's basketball team celebrated winning an Ohio Athletic Conference tournament title on its own floor.

Using a dominant second half effort, the top-seeded Blue Streaks defeated #3 seed Ohio Northern, 94-77, in the championship game staged on Mike Moran Court at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The victory marks the fifth OAC Tournament crown captured by the John Carroll program (the others in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2016) and just the third (the others in 2004 and 2009) at home.

JCU trailed for the opening eight minutes before taking its first lead on a Jimmy Berger lay-up at the 11:04 mark. It was part of 14-4 run that turned a 16-10 deficit into a 24-20 lead for the Blue Streaks.

Once John Carroll took the lead, it never gave it away, but there was little if any separation for the remainder of the half. The Blue Streaks did not lead by more than five points and took a precarious 43-39 lead into the locker room.

The separation would come early in the second half. A 9-1 run to start the period, capped by a John DiCillo lay-up at the 16:56 mark, opened up the first double digit lead for either team at 52-40.

Ohio Northern would chip away and get it back down to seven points when OAC Player of the Year Ryan Bruns dropped in a lay-up at the 14:34 mark to make the score 60-53. John Carroll answered with a run for which the Polar Bears had no response. A 15-3 burst in which five different Blue Streaks scored would kick the lead out to 19 points (75-56) with just over ten minutes to play.

JCU would never be threatened the rest of the way.

Matthew Csuhran led John Carroll (23-5) with 19 points, with Antonio Vuyancih (14), Jimmy Berger (13), Jackson Sartain (11) and Ryan Berger (10) all reaching double figures. All eleven Blue Streaks who played scored at least two points.

The Blue Streaks were 34-69 (.493) from the field, including 19-35 (.543) in the pivotal second half. John Carroll out-rebounded the Polar Bears, 53-32, and collected 20 offensive rebounds.

Ohio Northern (19-9) was paced by 16 points from Burger and 14 from Joey DiOrio. Bruns added 12 and Brandon Waugh chipped in 11. The Polar Bears were 28-67 (.418) for the game, but 13-34 (.382) in the second half. 

John Carroll received the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship while Ohio Northern will wait to see if it has done enough to merit an at-large bid. The selection show is Monday, February 26, at 12:30 p.m.