Jan. 19, 2011

Box Score

CHESTERTOWN, MD - It was a night for the bench players Wednesday as Johns Hopkins and host Washington College got a combined 78 points from its reserves as the Shoremen beat the Blue Jays, 71-62, in Centennial Conference action. Hopkins falls to 4-12 overall and 2-7 in the conference, while the Shoremen improve to 5-11 and 4-5 in the conference. Freshman forward Connor McIntyre led all scorers with a career-high 23 points, while junior guard Tim McCarty grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds.

It was a see-saw game from the opening tip as there were 17 lead changes and nine ties and aptly the teams went into the half knotted up at 29-29. Trailing 33-31 just over three minutes into the second half, Hopkins got back-to-back layups from McCarty and McIntyre to swing the lead to the Blue Jays' favor. Senior forward John Alberici then hit the front-end of a pair of free throws and Hopkins led 36-33. Kevin Breslin cut the deficit back to one with a pair from the line, but a Mike Rhoads' jumper made it a 38-35 game with 14:13 to play.

The Shoremen came right back and Chris Soper hit a lay-up to cut it to one. Donovan Womack then drained a three-pointer on consecutive possessions, two of his four on the night, to put Washington College on top 43-38. Four straight points from McIntyre and a Spengler layup knotted the score at 44-44 with 11:21 on the clock. That didn't last long however, as Mark DeBoy matched Womack with triples on back-to-back possessions and Washington College was off and running. Dylan Bernstein capped the Shoremen's run with a three-pointer of his run as they turned a tie-game into an eight-point game with 7:13 to play.

Eight straight points from McIntyre trimmed the Blue Jays' deficit to just three points with 1:52 still to play. Chris Olsen pushed it back to five with a bucket in the paint on the Shoremen's next possession and from there out Washington would make seven of eight shots from the line to seal the win.

McIntyre was nearly perfect from the floor on the night as he went 8-of-8 from the field and then went 7-of-8 from the line. He added a career-high eight rebounds and two assists as he scored 19 of the team's final 27 points. His 23 points are the most by a Hopkins freshman since Danny Nawrocki put up 23 - at Washington College - on January 10, 2004. McCarty doubled up his previous career-high for rebounds with his game-high 18 and finished just two points shy of a double-double. That's the most boards by a Blue Jay since Nawrocki corralled 18 against McDaniel on February 7, 2007. Senior forward Mike Henrici was the only other Blue Jay in double digits, finishing with 10.

For the Shoremen, Womack led the team with 16 points as the reserve went 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from downtown. Breslin and Soper each chipped in 10, while Olsen nearly had a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds. Hopkins shot 40.7 percent for the game, but went just 65.0 percent (13-20) from the line and 11.1 percent (1-9) from three. The Blue Jays also cleaned up on the boards, outrebounding the Shoremen 48-34, but turned the ball over 17 times. Washington College meanwhile, shot 36.7 percent from the field, but a scorching 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from three-point and 79.2 percent (19-of-24) from the line.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, January 22 as the Blue Jays travel to Carlisle, PA to take on the Dickinson Red Devils. Tip off for the Centennial Conference match-up is set for 4:00 pm.