Feb. 13, 2008

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Visiting Gettysburg shot 59 percent in the second half to hold off Johns Hopkins 67-56 in Centennial Conference action Wednesday night. The Blue Jays fall to 13-9 overall and 9-6 in the conference while the Bullets improve to 18-3 overall and 13-2 in the Centennial. Hopkins is now in a tie for third in the conference with McDaniel.

Hopkins held an early 9-5 lead on the strength of six points from senior forward Kevin Roach (Derwood, MD/Magruder). But the Bullets came back with back-to-back baskets from Andrew Powers, including an old-fashioned three-point play, to take the lead. Corey Dorsey then drained a three to make it a 13-9 game in favor of Gettysburg.

Trailing 23-17 with 6:00 to play in the half, sophomore forward Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) hit a pair of buckets, followed by a jumper from sophomore guard Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) and it was a tie ballgame with 2:53 remaining. A basket from Joe Spierenburg was answered with a jumper from O'Connell, before Spierenburg nailed two free throws with 38 seconds left to give the Bullets a 27-25 lead. The Blue Jays got the ball back with 1.8 ticks on the clock but freshman forward John Alberici's (West Chester, PA/Malvern Prep) shot at the buzzer hit the rim.

Gettysburg came out fast to start the second, jumping out to a 35-25 lead just 2:36 in. Hopkins called a timeout and responded with a 10-2 run, ignited by a bucket from O'Connell as four different Blue Jays scored in the run. But Gettysburg had an answer, pushing its lead back to 10 at 51-41 with 7:58 remaining. Hopkins had one more run left in it. Roach hit a jumper followed by a pair of free throws from O'Connell to make it a one-point game. Dorsey then hit a long three and the Bullets led by four, but senior guard Doug Polster (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) answered with a three for the Blue Jays with 2:51 to play. The teams traded a pair of buckets and the lead was again down to one, but that's as close as JHU would get. Gettysburg hit five of six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Polster and Roach led the Blue Jays with 12 points apiece. O'Connell and Farber-Miller each had 10 for JHU. Powers scored a game-high 25 points to power the Bullets. JHU shot just 39.3 percent from the floor, while Gettysburg shot 46.8 percent.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 16 with a road trip to Muhlenberg. The Mules are currently in fifth in the conference with an 8-7 record. This crucial Centennial Conference match-up is set to tip at 2:00 pm in Allentown, PA.