MARIETTA, Ohio – For the second straight season, John Carroll University knocked Marietta College out of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament in Ban Johnson Arena. The No. 3 seeded Blue Streaks posted an 86-79 win Thursday (Feb. 27) evening in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.

Marietta, ranked 21st nationally, falls to 21-6 on the season. The Pioneers will now look for at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Monday afternoon. John Carroll improves to 19-8 overall and will travel to top-seeded Mount Union for the OAC championship on Saturday.

"John Carroll was lights out in the first half. You have to give them credit they shot sixty percent from the floor and hit 12 threes to lead by 18 at the half," Marietta head coach Jon VanderWal said. "Our kids showed some toughness cutting it down to four in the second half. We have been a little inconsistent this year showing flashes of greatness. I know this group can be really good. If we're fortunate enough to get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, I think we have a great chance of making a run."

Marietta opened the game with seven straight points in the first 2:20 minutes of play forcing the Blue Streaks to call a quick timeout. The run was highlighted by Tim Kreeger as he had a layup, and then had a steal that led to a fast break dunk. Jason Ellis capped the spurt with a three-pointer.

Out of the timeout, the Blue Streaks outscored the Pioneers 17-10 to tie the game at 17-17 with 11:13 left in the first half. John Carroll continued their strong play and led 26-20, with nine minutes to play in the half, which forced a Marietta timeout.

The Blue Streaks stretched their lead to 36-24 behind a 10-4 run forcing another Pioneer timeout with just under six minutes to play in the half. John Carroll closed out the half and led, 54-36, at the intermission.

John Carroll opened the second half with a 10-3 run extending its to 64-39. Lukas Isaly halted the run with a triple at the 17:38 minute mark.

The Pioneers started to battle back behind a quick 12-2 run that saw the JCU lead shrink to 66-51 with 16 minutes to play in the game. The run was sparked by nine points from Isaly and capped by and old-fashioned three-point play from Caleb Hoyng.

Marietta continued its charge cutting the lead to single digits, 70-61, when Karson Snyder knocked down one of two foul shots with 9:13 left to play. The Pioneers trimmed the lead to 70-65 behind a three-pointer from Hoyng with just over seven minutes remaining. But six straight points from John Carroll pushed the margin back to 11 points, 76-65.

Once again, the Pioneers tried to make the comeback answering with seven points in a row to get within four, 76-72, at the 2:32 mark. Marietta could not complete the job as John Carroll went 10-for-10 at the free throw line down the stretch to hold on for the 86-79 victory.

Marietta was led by Hoyng as he notched his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Isaly led all scorers with 22 points and tied a career high in assists with five.  Christian James and Mason Lydic provided a spark off the bench as they had 11 and 10 points respectively. Kreeger chipped in 10 points and nine boards.

Ryan Berger led the Blue Streaks with 21 points. Jackson Sartain finished with 18 points, while Patrick Flannery and James Berger added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Luke Hippler grabbed nine rebounds and Sean Flannery dished out seven assists.