Body-slammed: League leader John Carroll takes down Mount Union men's basketball team
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Mount Union's basketball visits to John Carroll may not be annual events in the coming years.
From a Purple Raiders perspective, any future games can't be worse than Wednesday's matchup at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
John Carroll took it to Mount Union early and never let up until victory was well in hand. A 96-61 win kept the Blue Streaks perfect in the Ohio Athletic Conference and dropped the Purple Raiders two games off the lead.
MOUNT UNION MEN'S BASKETBALL: 'I wanted to play again': Michael Skeriotis enjoying return to Mount Union basketball team
The biggest news surrounding John Carroll athletics in recent weeks is the university's reported interest in switching conferences.
Bob Quillman of The Q-Cast reported that an announcement of John Carroll's move to the North Coast Athletic Conference will be made on Jan. 18. In a statement to The News-Herald, the university said it has been approached, but no commitments have been made.
Head coach Pete Moran's Blue Streaks certainly made a statement in the latest matchup between national contenders. John Carroll (13-1, 7-0) built a whopping 58-25 halftime advantage and led by as many as 47.
"They're an excellent team," Mount Union head coach Mike Fuline said. "It's the best team we've seen play here in a couple of years. They're really good. They've got a lot of good dudes."
The John Carroll trio of Luke Frazier, Chase Toppin and Luke Chicone were unstoppable in the first half. They were a combined 8-of-14 from 3-point range and scored 45 of the Blue Streaks' 58 points. Toppin finished with a game-high 21.
Mount Union (12-2, 5-2) shot just under 28% in the first half. The Purple Raiders were outscored 41-14 over the final 12:26 of the half.
MOUNT UNION MEN'S BASKETBALL: Dante Collier confidently steps up, leads Mount Union men's basketball team past Wooster
"They made shots, but a lot of that was our lack of defense," Fuline said. "Then we settled for some while trying to get hot. You just have to move the basketball."
The last thing Fuline expected to do was play his backups for most of the second half. With 13:27 remaining and John Carroll leading 76-29, it made sense to sit his starters for the rest of the night.
Elijah Farrington, Jahlil Graham, Caleb Laurich and Marcus Steele led a 10-0 Mount Union run during one stretch. Laurich and Zander Sabin finished with nine points apiece.
"I just wanted them to have that experience," Fuline said. "So many of those guys are new, and we just wanted them to play. They had most of their starters in, so we wanted to see if they could guard those guys."
The Purple Raiders have not experienced a loss like this in a long time. Based on the way the Blue Streaks played, a two-game deficit in the OAC may feel like a 20-game hole.
How well Fuline's players put this loss behind them can dictate what lies ahead.
"We'll get a chance later on to try to redeem ourselves (against John Carroll), but we have a lot of games in between against good teams," Fuline said. " ... The league is really good this year. There are really no lower-level teams.
"Sometimes you just get beat. I've done this a long time. You tip your cap and move on."
Reach Mike at mike.popovich@cantonrep.com
On X: @mpopovichREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: 'Best team we've seen': John Carroll basketball team beats Mount Union
