Box Score Feb. 11, 2009
Box Score
BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team snapped a five-game losing skid, its longest in 14 years, with a 74-68 win over Gettysburg Wednesday night at Goldfarb Gym. The Blue Jays improve to 12-10 overall and 7-8 in the Centennial Conference with the win, while the Bullets slip to 14-7 overall and 9-6 in the conference. Senior Collin Kamm (Avon, NJ/Saint Rose) and sophomore Mike Henrici (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) led four Blue Jays in double figures with 14 points apiece.
Hopkins used a 22-0 run that stretched from 2:33 in the first half until 13:06 in the second, to take control of the game. Trailing by 10 with 11:20 to play in the first after a Brendan Hager layup, sophomore Mike Henrici (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) converted a fast break layup, starting a 6-1 run as the Blue Jays trimmed the deficit to five with 8:34 to play. Gettysburg responded with 10 unanswered points, fueled by six points from Andrew Powers, to push out to a 31-16 lead with just 2:33 remaining in the half.
Hopkins called timeout to regroup and it worked. Coming out of the timeout, senior Collin Kamm (Avon, NJ/St. Rose) drained a three pointer at the top of the arc to ignite a 10-0 half-ending run with sophomore Leland O'Connor (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter) punctuating the run with a triple of his own. With the shot clock off after a Henrici jumper, Gettysburg held for one final shot but Chris Nevolo's jumper with five ticks on the clock missed the mark. Junior Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) controlled the rebound and sent a cross-court outlet pass to O'Connor who drained a pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a 31-26 game at the half.
Coming out of the half, the Blue Jays picked up where they left off in the first. Kamm hit a three-pointer to start the second and then followed with a bucket in the paint to tie the game at 31-31. Junior Adam Baumgartner (Reston, VA/Bishop O'Connell), in his first game back after breaking his hand on Jan. 7, hit a layup to give the Blue Jays their first lead since 18:36 in the first half. Free throws from O'Connell and junior Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) followed a Henrici layup and Hopkins led by 38-31 with 13:22 remaining.
Powers converted a pair of free throws with 13:06 on the clock for the Bullets first points of the half, then followed with a layup to cut the deficit to four. Following a missed Dan Capkin three-pointer, O'Connell drove the paint and then kicked the ball out to senior Phil Beggans (Ocean, NJ/Ocean) who drained a three to push the lead back to seven. Capkin came right back with a triple and the Bullets offense went to work.
Capkin's three kick-started a 13-6 run to knot the score at 48-48 with 6:58 remaining. Sound free throw shooting fueled the run as the Bullets went 8-of-8 from the line during the stretch. A pair of Farber-Miller free throws and a Kamm layup and the lead was back to four. But Gettysburg was not going away. Nevolo continued the Bullets' hot free throw shooting, knocking down a pair to make it a 52-50 game with just under six to play. That would be as close as Gettysburg would get though.
Kamm and freshman Tim McCarty (Warrington, PA/Germantown Academy) knocked down back-to-back three pointers and the lead was back to seven. In the closing minutes, it was Hopkins solid free throw shooting that sealed the game. The Blue Jays went 14-of-16 from the line in the final 2:38 to take home the win.
In addition to Kamm and Henrici's 14 points, Farber-Miller punched up 12 while O'Connell had 11. In addition, Kamm led the Blue Jays with six rebounds and four assists. He finished the night with 510 points, 198 assists and 117 steals - leaving him just two assists shy of becoming only the fourth player in program history with 500 career points, 200 career assists and 100 career steals. Kamm is also now tied with his older brother Brendan for 13th in school history in career assists. Gettysburg was led by Powers, who finished with 23 points and 11 boards, while going 13-of-14 from the free throw line. Capkin was the only other Bullet in double figures, pouring in 21 points.
Hopkins shot 42.6 percent from the field for the game, including 50.0 percent from downtown. After shooting 45.8 percent in the first half, Gettysburg shot just 30.8 percent in the second. Hopkins lost the rebounding battle, 38-28, but forced 19 Gettysburg turnovers.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 14 as Muhlenberg visits Goldfarb Gym. Saturday's game is Hopkins annual Think Pink game as the Blue Jays will sport pink shirts during their pre-game warm-up as well as pink shoelaces. Hopkins will also honor its four seniors, Beggans, Kamm, Weisenfeld and Ryan Purcell (Schaumburg, IL/Schaumburg) just prior to tip off, scheduled for 3:00 pm.
