![\"Point](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TNH-L-JCUHoops-0307-02.jpg\")
Point guard Luke Chicone of Mentor scored 12 points and had 11 assists in John Carroll’s NCAA D-III tournament opening win over Grinnell March 6. (John Carroll Athletics)<\/p>\nFor a team averaging more than 103 points and forcing their opponent into 25 turnovers per game, it wasn\u2019t supposed to be this easy for the John Carroll men\u2019s basketball March 6 against high-scoring Grinnell.<\/p>\n
But on the floor of Illinois Wesleyan in their first-round game of the NCAA Divison III tournament in Bloomington, Ill., the Blue Streaks made it look all too easy in a cakewalk.<\/p>\n
The final score \u2014 118-86 over the Pioneers \u2014 was more lopsided than it looked on paper. For stretches in the second half, the lead was more than 40 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were making plays. We were finishing,\u201d said Coach Pete Moran, whose team\u2019s 118 points were the most in JCU history in 46 all-time NCAA games. \u201cWe made some shots, and that helps when you play a team like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory advanced JCU (23-6) into the Round of 32, where it will play host Illinois Wesleyan (24-4 and No. 10 in the NCAA Power Index) for a spot in the Sweet 16. Tip-off is 7:40 p.m.<\/p>\n
Point guard Luke Chicone of Mentor scored 12 points and had 11 assists in John Carroll’s NCAA D-III tournament opening win over Grinnell March 6. (John Carroll Athletics)<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a spot All-America point guard Luke Chicone has wanted to take the JCU program since he arrived in University Heights four seasons ago. This time, his final time as a graduate student, Chicone is enjoying the ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cTold myself, \u2018Don\u2019t have any expectations. Have fun. Trust in the work we\u2019ve done,\u2019 \u201d said Chicone about the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n
He and his teammates played like it against Grinnell, which couldn\u2019t buy a basket, especially from long range. The Pioneers (22-4) shot just 6 of 43 from beyond the 3-point arc and committed 22 turnovers. Their 86 points were the lowest point total of the season, which included 14 games of at least 100 points.<\/p>\n
On the other side, the Blue Streaks broke Grinnell\u2019s full-court press and used that advantage to create easy opportunities on 3-on-2, and 2-on-1 situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys did an outstanding job attacking their pressure,\u201d said Moran. \u201cGrinnell plays a bit unorthodox, but we traditionally play fast ourselves. I think our guys were excited at the opportunity but more importantly we got some turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Streaks didn\u2019t need a huge scoring performance from Chicone (who averaged 33.6 points in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament). Instead, there was balance throughout, led by Mike Lamirand\u2019s 22 points and Kasey Hunt\u2019s 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just took the game as it came to us, nothing out of the ordinary,\u201d said Hunt. \u201cJust finding our teammates when they\u2019re open. Trusting in each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle Irwin of Mayfield added 18 points and eight rebounds, with backup point guard Jack Zapolnik scoring 17 points and dishing out five assists.<\/p>\n
Mentor grad Chicone had 12 points, 11 assists and four steals. Brandon Rose was the other JCU players in double-figure scoring with 10 points.<\/p>\n
JCU was 44 of 81 from the floor (54.3 percent) but buried Grinnell by making 15 of 31 from 3-point range<\/p>\n
The Blue Streaks led, 58-35, at halftime and five minutes into the second half it was 75-45. With seven minutes to play, JCU built its biggest lead of the night at 103-60.<\/p>\n
Another plus for JCU and its lopsided win was the fact no starter played big minutes, and that includes Chicone (24 minutes) with a quick turnaround game March 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were definitely strategic in how we were subbing,\u201d said Moran. \u201cManaging minute loads.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE SCORE<\/p>\n
John Carroll 118, Grinnell 86<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a team averaging more than 103 points and forcing their opponent into 25 turnovers per game, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,325,83695,165,231,772,1544,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-644529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-college-sports","11":"tag-john-carroll-university","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-basketball","15":"tag-ncaab","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116185778148091836","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}