Feb. 21, 2004

Box Score

Baltimore, MD - Johns Hopkins junior forward Eric Toback (Ellicott City, MD/Mount Hebron) scored a career-high 30 points while senior guard Matt Righter (Clarion, PA/Lawrenceville Prep) added 20 points as the Blue Jay men's basketball team defeated Ursinus, 72-65, Saturday afternoon at Goldfarb Gymnasium.

Hopkins won its second straight game to improve to 16-7 overall and 12-5 in the Centennial Conference, and will be either the second or third seed in next weekend's conference tournament at Franklin & Marshall. The Bears, who fell to 15-9 overall and 11-6 in the league, will also be the two or three seed in the tournament. Hopkins and Ursinus will face each other next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Lancaster, PA, in the tournament's first semifinal game.

The Blue Jays, who extended their school-record home winning streak to 25 games, opened the contest with a 19-0 run in the first 5:16 of the game. However Ursinus scored the next eight points, and after Hopkins went back up 26-11 at the 11:06 mark, the Bears went on a 17-2 run to tie the game at 28-28 with 5:58 remaining in the first half.

The Blue Jays went back up 38-34 on a three-pointer by Toback with 1:33 left, but Mike McGarvey, who scored all of his 20 points in the first half, hit a jumper with four seconds remaining to send the teams to the half tied at 41-41.

Both teams struggled early in the second period until a lay-up by Will Furey put Ursinus ahead 51-45 with 9:35 on the clock. Righter answered with a three-pointer and Toback hit a jumper to pull Hopkins within one, and Bears guard Dennis Stanton drained a three-pointer, Toback scored and Righter hit another three-pointer to put the Blue Jays up 55-54 with 7:44 remaining.

Toback then sandwiched two baskets around a lay-up by freshman forward Zack Armen (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset) to extend the JHU run to 11-0 and give Hopkins a 61-54 advantage with 5:02 to play. The Bears got within 63-60 at the 2:57 mark following a three-point play by Joe Scholz, but Toback hit a free throw and sophomore guard Frank Mason (Silver Spring, MD/Barrie School) converted a driving lay-up to make it a 66-60 game with 1:51 on the clock.

Stanton hit a lay-up with 1:28 left, but freshman forward Danny Nawrocki (Syosset, NY/Chaminade) answered with a lay-up and Righter hit a free throw to put Hopkins up 69-62 with 1:01 left. The Bears got within 69-65 at the 41 second mark after a lay-up by Furey and a free throw by Stanton, but Righter and senior guard Kevin Marquez (Oakton, VA/Oakton) each hit two free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Toback and freshman forward Matt Griffin (Glen Mills, PA/Penncrest) each pulled down eight rebounds for Hopkins, while Righter had seven and Marquez chipped in six points and five assists. Stanton, who entered the game as the Division III leading scorer at 32.4 points per game, led the Bears with 25 points but hit just 8-of-23 shots from the floor.

The Blue Jays conclude their regular season Tuesday with an 8 p.m. home game against 14th-ranked Franklin & Marshall.

Box Score:        1   2       FUrsinus (15-9, 11-6 Centennial)     41  24  -   65Johns Hopkins (16-7, 12-5 Centennial)   41  31  -   72