Feb. 24, 2005

Box Score

HAVERFORD, Pa. - Mark Gabriel (Eagle, ID/Northeast Christian (TX)) scored a game-high 23 points and Matt Stein (Allentown, PA/Moravian Academy) added 19 as the Haverford men's basketball team knocked off visiting Johns Hopkins, 71-53 in the first round of the 2005 Centennial Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Thursday night. The fourth-seeded Fords improve to 14-11 and move into the semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Franklin & Marshall on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays dropped their fourth straight and slip to 14-11.

The Fords used several big runs to take control and put the game away and none of the runs was bigger than a 14-2 spurt midway through the second half that extended a five-point lead to 17 and all but sealed Haverford's first-ever trip to the Centennial semifinals. Jeremy Bass (Riverdale, NY/Bronx Science) scored the first five points in the run and Stein added a pair of short jumpers to fuel the spree as the Blue Jays managed just one basket over a stretch of nearly seven minutes. The Blue Jays pulled within 53-40 with 6:31 remaining, but Stein hit back-to-back jumpers to push the lead back to 17 and to end any hopes of a comeback.

Haverford watched an 11-point halftime lead get trimmed to five in the first seven minutes of the second half as back-to-back jumpers by Eric Toback (Ellicott City, MD/Mt. Hebron) and a three-pointer by T.J. Valerio (Blue Bell, PA/St. Joseph's Prep) fueled a 13-7 spurt for the Blue Jays that trimmed a 32-21 halftime deficit to 39-34. That set the stage for the 14-2 run that pushed the lead to 53-36 and helped secure Haverford's second win over the Blue Jays in three games between the teams this season.

After the teams battled to a 15-15 tie through 12 minutes, the Fords sprinted to a 32-21 halftime lead as Gabriel and Stein combined for 24 points before intermission. The Blue Jays were within 24-21 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half, but back-to-back jumpers by Gabriel ignited an 8-0 half-ending run that extended the lead to 11 at intermission. Valerio's three-pointer at the 13:06 mark of the second half ended the early surge for the Blue Jays after halftime, but a Bass layup and three-pointer ignited to the ensuing 14-2 run for the Fords.

In addition to Gabriel and Stein, Haverford got 13 points and five rebounds from Bass and Gabriel added a team-high 10 rebounds as the Fords held a slim, 37-35 rebounding advantage over the Blue Jays. The Fords also turned 17 Johns Hopkins turnovers into 25 points.

Valerio led the Blue Jays with 19 points, while Dan Nawrocki (Syosset, NY/Chaminade) added 10 points and 16 rebounds. The 19 points for Valerio tie his career high, while Nawrocki's 16 rebounds are a Centennial Conference Tournament record. Toback added 11 points in what may have been his final game in a Johns Hopkins uniform.

The Blue Jays will now wait until Monday to find out if they receive one of eight bids to the ECAC Tournament. The Blue Jays have competed in the ECACs three times and won the ECAC South title in 1997.