Feb. 4, 2009

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA - The 21st-ranked Franklin & Marshall Diplomats used a 20-7 run to pull away from the visiting Johns Hopkins Blue Jays midway through the second half en route to a 71-60 win. The Blue Jays lose their fourth straight and fall to 11-9 overall and 6-7 in the Centennial Conference. The Diplomats remain atop the conference standings with a 11-2 record and are now 18-2 overall.

Coming out of the half trailing by five at 33-28, Hopkins scored seven unanswered to open the second and took a two-point lead on a Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) jumper with 17:15 to play. James McNally finally put the Diplomats on the board in the second when he made one of two free throws. Clay Scovill then hit a layup at 15:48 for F&M's first field goal since the end of the first half. That kickstarted the 20-7 Diplomats' run that spanned more than seven minutes as they pushed out to an 11-point lead at 53-42 with 9:11 remaining in the game.

Hopkins cut the deficit to eight on an O'Connell free throw and Josh DeLott (New York, NY/Trinity School) layup. That would be as close as the Blue Jays would get for the remainder of the game as the Diplomats held them to just three field goals in the final six minutes.

The first half was one of runs as there eight lead changes, three ties and neither team led by more than five. F&M opened the game on a 9-4 with a pair from Mike Baker and a trey from Anthony Brooks. The Blue Jay offense got going when senior Collin Kamm (Avon, NJ/St. Rose) drove the paint and laid one in to cut the deficit to three, igniting a 14-4 run. Senior Scott Weisenfeld (Mt. Kisco, NY/Horace-Greeley) then controlled the rebound off a missed Baker jumper and sent a long outlet pass to sophomore Mike Henrici (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) who converted the fast break layup to make it a one-point game. Junior Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) capped the run with six straight points as Hopkins led 18-13 with 7:46 remaining in the half.

The Diplomats came back with seven unanswered in less than two minutes to take a 19-18 lead with 5:52 left. Henrici drained a baseline jumper to give the Blue Jays back the lead, but a McNally layup on the other end swung the lead back to the Dips. Steve Tolliver pushed the lead to three with a fast break layup and the Blue Jays called timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Weisenfeld and O'Connell drained back-to-back three points for a six-point swing and a three-point lead with 3:28 left. Brooks answered with a triple for F&M as the Diplomats ended the half on an 8-2 run to take a 31-28 lead into the lockerroom.

After shooting 52.2 percent from the field in the first half, the Blue Jays were plagued by cold shooting, converting just 34.6 percent of their shots in the second. F&M shot 48.1 percent from the field for the game, including 50.0 percent in the second half.

O'Connell led three Blue Jays in double figures with 13 points and five boards. After missing the last game due to illness, Farber-Miller scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. Henrici also finished in double figures with 10 points. Kamm dished a team and season-high six assists while also chipping in seven points. Weisenfeld finished with nine points and four assists, moving him into a tie for 14th in JHU history with 194 career assists. Brooks led three Diplomats in double figures with a game-high 17 points. Also finishing in double figures were Daniel Selig (16) and Scovill (10).

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 7 and hosts Haverford College in Centennial Conference action. The game is the eighth annual Wall-O'Mahony game, played in honor of alumni Glen Wall and Matt O'Mahony. The teammates lost their lives in the World Trade Center in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On Feb. 9, 2002, the friends and family of Wall and O'Mahony dedicated the men's basketball lockerroom in their honor. In addition, each year at the conclusion of the game honoring the two friends, one player from each teams is recognized as the most valuable of the game. Tip-off is slated for 1:00 pm, with the game preceeded by the annual Hopkins' alumni game, scheduled for 11:00 am.