Nov. 21, 2006

Box Score

ST. MARY'S, MD - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team jumped out to a 42-28 halftime lead, held off a second-half rally by host St. Mary's and pulled away in the final minutes to secure a 78-60 victory against the Seahawks in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Provident Pride of Maryland Tournament. The Blue Jays advance to Saturday's semifinals at Goucher College and will meet the winner of tonight's Goucher-Frostburg game. St. Mary's (0-1) will play the loser of the Goucher-Frostburg game in the consolation semifinals.

The Blue Jays led 51-38 with 13:40 remaining after a layup by Zack Armen, but the Seahawks responded with a 12-6 run to cut the deficit to 57-50 with just under six minutes remaining. Tyson Lesesne opened and closed the run with three pointers and added a layup during the spree as well.

Johns Hopkins senior T.J. Valerio answered Lesesne's last three-pointer with a triple of his own to increase the lead to 60-50 and back-to-back layups by seniors Matt Griffin and Dan Nawrocki later pushed the lead to 66-52 and the `Hawks were never closer than 12 in the final three minutes. The Blue Jays hit 10-of-12 from the free throw line in the final 2:46 to seal the victory.

There were four ties and six lead changes in the first half, all of which came in the first five minutes of the game. A fast-break layup by Valerio with 13:30 remaining in the half ignited a 28-11 Blue Jay run that pushed their lead to a first-half high of 17 points at 40-23. Griffin scored all 14 of his first-half points during the spree, which also included nine points from Valerio.

Both teams struggled out of the gate in the second half before the Seahawks closed the 42-28 halftime deficit to 46-38 on a three-pointer by Valdez Preston. Hopkins answered with a three-pointer from Doug Polster and Armen's layup one possession later. That set the stage for Lesesne's outburst, which Valerio ended with his three pointer that jump-started Hopkins' final run.

Griffin scored a game-high 22 points and hit 12-of-13 from the free throw line, while Valerio added 19 points and hit three, three-pointers. The Blue Jays hit 28-of-37 (.757) from the free throw line and held a 42-39 advantage on the boards as senior Dan Nawrocki pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Preston led the Seahawks with 19 points and hit 5-of-9 from three-point range. Lesesne added 18 points, but hit just 6-of-18 from the floor.