Jan. 15, 2011

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Despite a career-high 28 points from senior forward Mike Henrici, Johns Hopkins could not complete a comeback, falling 67-60 to visiting Haverford Saturday afternoon. Hopkins falls to 4-11 overall and 2-6 in the Centennial Conference, while Haverford improves to 8-6 (5-3 conference). Henrici's 28 points is the most by a Blue Jay almost exactly three years, when Doug Polster put up 28 against Muhlenberg on January 16, 2008.

Hopkins had cut a seven-point deficit to just a three-point deficit with 52 seconds to play after Henrici was fouled on a three-pointer. His shot went in and he hit the ensuing free throw to make it a 61-58 game. The Fords did their part to hold on to the win however, as they went 6-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 51 seconds to seal the win.

Henrici put the Blue Jays up 4-0 to open the game, but the teams went back-and-forth from there as Haverford had answer for every Hopkins bucket. Senior John Alberici gave Hopkins an 11-9 lead with 15:21 to play, but a Sam Permutt layup just 19 seconds later tied the game for the fourth time and ignited a 14-4 run that saw Haveford take a 23-15 lead. An old-fashioned three-point play from freshman Aleksandar Nikolic and buckets from sophomore Adam Spengler and Henrici, trimmed the deficit to just three with 7:09 to play in the half. Permutt took over for the Fords over the next four minutes, scoring six unanswered points to push the lead to nine at 31-22. A free throw from freshman Daniel Corbett and an Alberici layup made it a 31-25 game at the break.

Trailing 41-33 five minutes into the second half, Hopkins put together a 9-2 run to cut the different to just one. Junior Tim McCarty got things going with a bucket down low, followed by a Henrici jumper. A Louis Cipriano layup pushed the lead back to six, but Henrici answered with a three-pointer and then Nikolic followed a missed Permutt layup with one of his own and Haverford led just 43-42 with 12:16 on the clock.

Back-to-back Haverford buckets pushed its lead back to five. Henrici sandwiched a triple and a layup around a bucket from Brett Cohen and it was a 49-47 game. Hopkins however could get no closer than three over the final eight minutes as Haverford answered every Hopkins run.

Henrici led all scorers with his 28, surpassing his previous high of 24 points - set against Haverford earlier this season. In fact, 22 of his points came in the second half. Alberici also finished in double figures for the third straight game, finishing with 13 points. For the Fords, it was Permutt leading the way with 21 points and 13 rebounds. While Ian Goldberg added 12 and Cam Baker and Cohen each finished with 10. Hopkins shot 40.3 percent for the game, while Haverford connected on 46.3 percent of its shots. The Fords also went 14-of-20 from the free throw line, making more shots than the Blue Jays attempted (6-of-10).

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, January 19 as the Blue Jays travel to the Eastern Shore to take on the Washington College Shoremen. Tip-off for the Centennial Conference tilt is set for 7:30 pm at Cain Athletic Center.