Jan. 17, 2009

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Senior guard Collin Kamm (Avon, NJ/Saint Rose) posted career highs in points and rebounds to lead Johns Hopkins to a 60-48 win over Swarthmore. The Blue Jays complete the season sweep of the Garnet and improve to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the Centennial Conference. The Garnet slip to 1-12 and 0-7 in the conference with their 10th straight loss.

Hopkins got off to a slow start, trailing 6-4 with 15:10 to play in the first, sophomore Leland O'Connor (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter) drained a three-pointer to give Hopkins its first lead of the game at 7-6. But Raul Ordonez gave Swarthmore back the lead with a lay-up on the other end. O'Connor came right back with a pull-up jumper, putting Hopkins on top 9-8 with 14:13 to play. O'Connor hit another bucket from downtown, followed by a jumper from junior Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) and Hopkins led by six.

The Garnets Danny Walker answered with five straight points to cut the deficit to one with 11:48 to play. Back-to-back buckets from Kamm and freshman Tim McCarty (Warrington, PA/Germantown Academy) were answered by an Ordonez lay-up and it was a three-point game with 9:06 to play. It was all Hopkins from there as O'Connor drained his third three-pointer of the day to kick-start an 18-8 half-ending run for the Blue Jays. Hopkins took a 36-23 lead into the lockerroom after shooting 46.4 percent from the field, including 83.3 percent (5-of-6) from downtown.

Coming out of the half, Hopkins quickly pushed its lead to 20 thanks to a 13-3 run, fueled by nine points from Kamm. Trailing 49-29 with 13:48 to play, Swarthmore called timeout to try and stem the tide and it worked, coming out of the break with a 7-2 run. But senior Ryan Purcell (Schaumburg, IL/Schaumburg) hit one from long-range to push the lead back to 18 at 54-36 with 9:04 to play. Swarthmore wouldn't go away, outscoring Hopkins 12-6 down the stretch, however the deficit was too large to overcome and the Blue Jays took the 12-point win.

Kamm led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, going 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the line. He grabbed a career-high eight boards to lead the Blue Jays. O'Connor punched up a career-high 13 points in just seven minutes of action, going 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-3 from downtown. Sophomore Mike Henrici (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) also finished in double-figures, tying his career-high with 11 points. Walker led the Garnet with 19 points, while Ordonez posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards.

Kamm is the fourth Blue Jay this season to hit for more than 20 points in a game, joining senior Scott Weisenfeld (Mt. Kisco, NY/Horace-Greeley), junior Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) and O'Connell. It is the first time since the 2005-06 season that four different players have scored more than 20 points in a game. That season, Danny Nawrocki, Matt Griffin, T.J. Valerio and Jeff Thompson all accomplished the feat.

Hopkins shot 41.5 percent from the floor for the game, compared to 35.3 percent for Swarthmore. The Blue Jays went 7-of-16 from downtown, tying their season-high for three-pointers in a game and extending their streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer to 331 straight games.

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, January 21 as it travels to Westminster, MD to take on long-time rival McDaniel. Tip off for the Centennial Conference match-up is set for 7:00 pm at Gill Athletic Center.