Jan. 7, 2004

Box Score

Baltimore, MD - Johns Hopkins senior guard Matt Righter (Clarion, PA/Lawrenceville Prep) hit a clutch three-pointer in the final minute and sophomore guard Frank Mason (Silver Spring, MD/Barrie School) nailed all four of his free throw attempts as the Blue Jay men's basketball team defeated Gettysburg, 70-67, Wednesday night at Goldfarb Gymnasium.

Hopkins led throughout the final 16 minutes of the first half and the first 16 minutes of the second before Bullets center David Glaser converted a lay-up to give Gettysburg the lead at 59-58 with 3:39 remaining. Hopkins senior guard Kevin Marquez (Oakton, VA/Oakton), who tied a career-high with 20 points, hit two free throws to put the Blue Jays back on top, but Glaser again scored a lay-up to give the Bullets a 61-60 advantage with 2:15 to play.

Mason drove for a lay-up as the Blue Jays regained the lead at the 1:38 mark, but Bullets forward Dami Oloruntoba nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to give Gettysburg a 64-62 advantage with 1:15 on the clock. However, Righter, who had missed his first five shots of the game, responded with a three-pointer from the right wing to put Hopkins up for good at 65-64 with 57 seconds left. After a miss by Bullets guard Kyle Jakobe, Mason hit two free throws, and following a miss by Reggie Davis, Toback hit one foul shot to give the Blue Jays a 68-64 lead with 18 seconds left.

Jakobe hit a three-pointer to cut the JHU lead to one with 7.6 seconds to play, but Mason hit two free throws to put Hopkins ahead 70-67 with 6.1 seconds remaining. After a long three-pointer by Jakobe attempted missed everything, the Blue Jays inbounded the ball to run out the clock and extend their school-record home winning streak to 19 games.

Marquez hit 7-of-10 shots, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, for the Blue Jays, who won their fourth straight to improve to 7-2 overall. Hopkins, which also got 17 points and a game-best seven rebounds from junior guard Eric Toback (Ellicott City, MD/Mount Hebron), is now 3-0 in the Centennial Conference, the first time since the league was formed in 1993-94 that the Blue Jays have won their first three conference games of the season.

Glaser led the Bullets with a game-high 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, while Jakobe added 11 points and Todd Brady had eight off the bench for Gettysburg, which fell to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in league play.

After trailing 4-3 early, the Blue Jays went on a 13-1 run, taking a 16-5 lead on a three-pointer by Mason with 13:38 left in the half. Hopkins led 35-19 with 4:11 to play following a lay-up by Toback, but Gettysburg ended the half on a 16-2 spurt, scoring the final 12 points of the period, to pull within 37-34 at the break.

The Blue Jays went up 50-44 with 11:45 to play after a three-pointer by Marquez, but the Bullets would not go away, eventually taking the lead on the lay-up by Glaser with just under four minutes to play.

Hopkins returns to action Saturday when the Blue Jays travel to Chestertown, MD, to face Washington College in a 3 p.m. league contest with the Shoremen.

Box Score        1   2       FGettysburg (5-5, 1-2 Centennial)        34  33  -   67Johns Hopkins (7-2, 3-0 Centennial) 37  33  -   70