January 24, 2002

JCU Streaks past 'Berg in second half

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor
dfeltner@advertiser-tribune.com

Using the first game between the two teams as a barometer, what happened between John Carroll and Heidelberg on Wednesday meant one of three things.

Either the Blue Streaks' 79-56 victory was a fluke, or John Carroll has improved leaps and bounds or Heidelberg has plummeted to abyss-like depths.

'Berg coach John Hill hopes it was the first, may concede it was the second and is praying that it's not the third.

In the first round of Ohio Athletic Conference basketball, Heidelberg finished a missed layup away from overtime during an 81-79 defeat in University Heights.

This time around, John Carroll's one-two punch of Chris Jaklich and Michael Hill was too much for Heidelberg to deal with.

Jaklich, the OAC's leading scorer at 19.6 ppg., is coming off the bench these days, but still played long, and well enough to score 19 points and pull down nine rebounds from his guard position.

Hill, a physically-imposing threat at 6-7, 240, finished with 22 points and 10 boards.

Heidelberg's top post player Ryan Niemic, countered with just three points and four rebounds. Niemic is among the nation's leaders in blocked shots, but had none against the Streaks.

"Their physical play took Ryan Niemic out of the ballgame," said Heidelberg coach John Hill, whose team falls to 6-12 overall, 2-9 in the OAC. "It took Ryan and Paul Meyer out, and I told those guys that they have to learn to give the ball up quicker and get it back on the rebound.

"And the mental aspect just isn't there," he said. "We're taking bad shots. We're taking shots when we're one on five, and those are all-or-nothing shots. And I preach to our kids that I don't like all-or-nothing shots. And it wasn't just one person. It was three or four individuals taking those shots."

As a result, Heidelberg was outrebounded, 50-36, outscored in second-chance points, 21-4, and points off turnovers, 21-12.

Meanwhile, the problem was compounded by The 'Berg's 27 percent (16 of 58) shooting from the field.

Heidelberg's problems were summed up late in the first half when Rudy Wolf made a nice move to the hole from the top of the key and threw up a layup. The ball rolled around the rim and out and into the hands of a John Carroll defender.

The 'Berg then stole the ensuing pass, and Lucas Messer made a sweet feed to Ryan Klebowski, who couldn't convert the layup.

Jaklich picked up the board and drained a 3-pointer to give the Streaks a 27-22 advantage with 1:30 left in the first half.

John Carroll took a 31-24 into the locker room, and then put the game away with a big second half.

Hill, Jaklich, David Gibbons and Daniel Budzar all scored during a 12-4 run to open the half, giving the Blue Streaks (7-10, 5-6) a 43-28 edge.

The lead grew to as many as 21 (68-47) with 4:33 to play.

Jacklich scored 14 of his points in the second half when he connected on 6-of-9 free throws. Hill totaled 12 points after the break.

"I told my team that we've just got to get a little better every time out after this," coach Hill said. "We just got beat pretty badly at home by a team we almost took to overtime on the road. Every mistake we made was the same mistakes we've been making all year. And it's not just one mistakes. If everyone out there makes one mistakes, that's 11 mistakes. We're just not mentally focused to play right now.

"The bright spot is that Ryan Klebowski is rebounding the ball," he said. "(Teams) are having a tough time keeping him off the boards."

Klebowski finished with 10 boards to go with nine points. Lucas Messer was the only Heidelberg player to score in double figures. He finished with 15 points.