In the national collegiate basketball postseason tournaments, there are no consolation prizes or moral victories. It is harsh reality measured by the concept of single elimination. A loss means the end of the line.

For John Carroll, the end of the line came after a full 40-minute team effort. The Blue Streaks threw everything they had at host Augustana College - - the preseason number two team in the country, the team that had played for the national title a year ago -- and still came out on the short end of an 86-78 score Friday evening at the at the Roy J. Carver Center for Physical Education in Rock Island, Illinois.

It was still an amazing season for a team picked to finish third in its own league. Following 25 wins, conference regular season and tournament titles and advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Streaks still have much to be proud of, even if that is hard to focus upon following tonight's loss.

"Great season," said a visibly drained John Carroll head coach Pete Moran. "After the game, I talked to our seniors and asked one last favor of then. I asked when their life comes full circle, somewhere down the line 20 ... 30 years, I asked them to call me and tell me how they see this experience now. What they provided me was a surreal experience."

The Blue Streaks trailed early on by as many as 12 points at 23-11, but rallied back and took a seven point lead, at 37-30, following a John Cirillo lay-up with 2:30 to play. That basket capped a ten minute run in which JCU outscored the Vikings, 26-7.

Augustana, however, used a mini run at the end of the half, and John Carroll's lead was cut to a single point, 39-38, as the team's headed to the locker room.

For the opening 12 minutes of the second half, there were seven ties and ten lead changes, and neither team led by more than four points. When Ryan Berger made a jumper at the 7:53 mark, the score stood 67-67.

The Vikings would slowly pull away from there as JCU simply could not make shots down the stretch. The Blue Streaks managed just four field goals the rest of the way.

Despite all that, John Carroll trailed by four points, 79-75 with three minutes to play. But two costly turnovers, offensive rebounds for Augustana, and free throws by the hosts down the stretch were just enough to provide the margin of victory.

"The difference tonight was all the height Augustana had," said Moran. "They had kids who could alter shots at the rim. Even on the perimeter their size affected us."

JCU was 28-85 (.349) from the field for the game, and managed just 6-29 (.207) from three-point range. The Blue Streaks won the battle of the boards, 52-47, and forced Augustana into 21 turnovers. But the Vikings were better shooters on this night -- 29-62 (.468) from the field and 10-18 (.556) from long range.

In their final games as Blue Streaks, John Cirillo (16) and Antonio Vuyancih (14) led the team in scoring. Cirillo also had ten rebounds to complete a double-double.

Nolan Ebel of Augustana led all scorers with 24. The Vikings advance to face UW-Oshkosh, who defeated Emory in the other sectional game Friday.

John Carroll ends its season at 25-6.

"What we accomplished this year means our tradition is still alive," said Moran. "We are going to continue to recruit quality individuals, quality students, quality athletes, and we are excited about what is coming up."