Jan. 21, 2009

Box Score

WESTMINSTER, MD - Johns Hopkins could not overcome cold shooting in the second half on Wednesday night, falling 65-49 at McDaniel in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays slip to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference while the Green Terror improve to 12-3 overall with their eighth straight win, tying a program-record. McDaniel also sits atop the conference standings with Gettysburg at 7-1 in league play.

The Blue Jays held the Green Terror to just one field goal in the final three minutes of the second half, but a 10 of 13 showing from the free throw line by McDaniel down the stretch prevented a late Hopkins rally. The loss ended a streak of four consecutive wins in Westminster for Hopkins. In fact, it is just the second loss in the last 11 years for the Blue Jays in Westminster. It also pulls the season series closer to even as the Blue Jays now lead the all-time series 71-69-1.

Trailing by five early in the second half, Hopkins got four quick points from sophomore Mike Henrici (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) and junior Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) to cut the deficit to one with 16:08 to play. But the Green Terror responded with a 10-2 rally that stretched over the next seven minutes to push out to a 42-33 lead. Josh McKay and Chad Arrington fueled the rally with four points apiece.

Senior Phil Beggans (Ocean, NJ/Ocean) then sandwiched a layup and three-pointer around a McKay jumper, making it a six-point game with 6:56 to play. That would be as close as the Blue Jays would get as they were held to just three field goals over the final 7:30 of the game.

It was a low-scoring affair from the start as the two teams combined for just eight points in the opening five minutes. Trailing by three just 3:48 into the game, McDaniel got back-to-back three-pointers from Miguel Jones to ignite a 13-5 rally as the home team pushed out to a 14-9 lead. It went back-and-forth over the next 2:48, with the Green Terror still leading by six. Freshman Tim McCarty (Warrington, PA/Germantown Academy) hit a layup with 8:06 to play to start an 8-2 Blue Jay run to knot the game at 23-23 with 2:44 to play. McDaniel answered with a run of its own, outscoring Hopkins 5-2 over the final 90 seconds to take a 28-25 lead into the half.

Farber-Miller was the only Blue Jay to finish in double figures, as he punched up 13 points on the night. Senior Ryan Purcell (Schaumburg, IL/Schaumburg) chipped in a career-high eight points, all in the second half for Hopkins. Jones finished with a career-high 22 points for the Green Terror, while McKay posted a double-double with 17 points and 14 boards. Hopkins shot 38.8 percent from the floor compared to 41.8 percent for McDaniel. Hopkins also went to the free throw line just 13 times, one less than the number of free throws made by McDaniel (14-of-22).

Beggans triple with 6:56 to play was Hopkins first of the game and extended the Blue Jays streak of consecutive of games with a made three-pointer to 332. The Green Terror, who leads all of Division III in three-point field goal percentage defense, held the Blue Jays to just two triples on the night.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, January 24 as the Blue Jays travel to Carlisle, PA to complete the season series with the Red Devils of Dickinson. Tip-off at the Kline Center is slated for 4:00 pm.