Nov. 28, 2006

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The #23 Johns Hopkins men's basketball team (6-0, 1-0) remained unbeaten on the season with a 73-57 win over Swarthmore (1-3, 0-1) in Centennial Conference action at Goldfarb Gym Tuesday night. The Blue Jays, who have won five straight over the Garnet, are off to their best start since the 1991-92 team that won its first 11 games of the season.

The Blue Jays jumped out to a seven-point lead early in the game, but the Garnet kept digging away at the lead finally knotting the score at 20-20 with 8:50 to play. Swarthmore took its first lead of the game on a three pointer by Matt Kurman at 7:19. Hopkins trimmed the lead to one after free throws by senior Matt Griffin (Glen Mills, PA/Penncrest) and Danny Nawrocki (Syosset, NY/Chaminade).

The Blue Jays reclaimed the lead at 6:06 after a Nawrocki layup. Griffin extended the lead to three with another layup before Matt Turner answered with a bucket for the Garnet to cut Hopkins lead to one with 3:54 to play. Kurman gave Swarthmore the lead on a layup after an Ian McCormick steal, but Hopkins answered right back when junior Doug Polster (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) drained a three with 2:55 to go. McCormick retook the lead for Swarthmore with just 47 seconds remaining with a three-pointer of his own. Senior T.J. Valerio (Blue Bell, PA/St. Joseph's Prep) then drained two free throws to give Hopkins a 34-33 lead heading into the half.

The Blue Jays came out of the lockerroom firing on all cylinders, jumping out to a 14-point lead as they held the Garnet without a score for the first 6:02 of the second half. Hopkins held Swarthmore to just 29.4% from the floor in the second half. The Garnet would cut the Blue Jays lead to eight at 53-45 with 9:26 to go, but that is as close at they got. Hopkins pushed its lead to as much as 20 points late in the half.

Griffin led Hopkins with 15 points and four steals. Nawrocki posted his fourth double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 11 boards. Polster punched up a season-high 14 points, shooting 4-of-6 from three-point range. McCormick led the Garnet with a game-high 16 points, though he was held without a point in the second half. Kurman also hit double figures with 13 points. The Blue Jays shot 55.8% from the floor, including 63.6% from three-point range, for the game.

The Blue Jays return to action on December 2 as they travel to Allentown to face the Muhlenberg Mules. Game time is set for 2:00 pm at Memorial Hall.