Box Score Senior
Eric Toback (Ellicott City, MD/Mt. Hebron) scored a game-high 23 points and the Johns Hopkins men?s basketball team held off a late McDaniel rally as the Blue Jays picked up a crucial 68-63 win over the Green Terror. The Blue Jays improve to 13-7 with the win and 10-4 in the conference, while the Green Terror falls to 4-17 and 2-12 in conference play.
After McDaniel took a 31-27 lead into halftime, the Blue Jays came out strong in the second half, and used a series of runs to build a lead. The Blue Jays opened the half with a 6-0 run, which saw JHU take a 33-31 advantage. McDaniel countered with its own 7-0 run to run its lead to 38-33. The five-point lead for the Green Terror was their largest of the second half.
The Blue Jays responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take the lead for good. A three-pointer from Toback and back-to-back baskets by sophomore Danny Nawrocki (Syosset, NY/Chaminade) and junior Bobby Sharafeddin (Silver Spring, MD/Barrie School) turned the 38-33 deficit into a 40-38 lead.
McDaniel was still within four at 46-42 when a Sharafeddin three-pointer jump-started a 10-2 run that gave JHU a 56-44 lead with just over eight minutes remaining. Hopkins maintained a slim, but comfortable lead for the next five minutes, as two free throws from sophomore TJ Valerio (Blue Bell, PA/St. Joseph?s) at the 3:07 mark put JHU up 64-54.
McDaniel had one final push, and a pair of Mike Dipiero free throws with 55 seconds remaining trimmed the Blue Jays lead to 64-61. McDaniel quickly fouled Hopkins, but Valerio hit two-of-two from the line. Chris Rutland responded tipping home a missed layup, keeping the game a one-basket game. Junior Jeff Thompson (Binghamton, NY/Loomis Chaffe) hit one-of-two from the line at the 0:13 mark to run JHU?s lead to 67-63, and ice the game for the Blue Jays.
Toback led the Blue Jays with 23 points and eight rebounds as he shot 7-of-11 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Valerio added 13 for JHU, including a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the free throw line, four of which came in the final minute of the game. Thompson had eight assists for the Blue Jays, one off his season and career-high of nine.
Kyle O'Connor led the Green Terror with 15 points. Rutland added 13 points and one was rebound shy of a double-double. Jemar Daniel also pulled nine rebounds for the Green Terror.
The win for the Blue Jays over McDaniel evens the all-time series at 66-66-1, a series that dates back to the 1930-31 season. The Blue Jays have also taken 15 of the last 16 contests from the Green Terror.
Hopkins with the win remains in a second place tie in the Centennial Conference with Haverford, which defeated Washington College, 88-85 this evening. The Diplomats of Franklin & Marshall defeated Dickinson, 54-46 to remain one game up on the Fords and Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays will square off against the Fords on Saturday in Baltimore at 2 pm. Saturday's game will also feature the alumni game beginning at noon, is senior day, where Toback will be honored, and is the Wall O'Mahony Memorial game.
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