Feb. 17, 2011

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team gave host Franklin & Marshall a game Wednesday night but could not pull of its second straight upset win in Lancaster as the Diplomats won 72-60. The Blue Jays drop to 6-18 overall and 4-13 in the Centennial Conference, while the Diplomats win their 10th straight to improve to 20-4 and 15-2 in the conference.

Trailing by 14 points midway through the second half, Hopkins put together an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to five. Sophomore Peter Scanlon halted a 13-6 Diplomats spurt with a pair of free throws at 10:38. Freshman Connor McIntyre then picked Max Brewer's pocket and sophomore Adam Spengler turned it into two points with a layup. Brewer got a pair back for F&M on its next possession, but Hopkins came right back with two free throws from junior Sean O'Connor and a layup from freshman Aleksandar Nikolic. Spengler capped the run with a bucket from downtown to make it a 58-53 game with 8:08 to play.

The Diplomats built their lead back to eight over the next three minutes, before the Blue Jays trimmed it back to five at 63-58 with 4:09 on the clock. Franklin & Marshall would turn up its defense from there, closing the game on a 9-2 run to take the 72-60 win.

The game saw four lead changes and two ties over the opening nine minutes before Franklin & Marshall used one of its patented runs to take control of the game. Hopkins led 13-12 with 11:40 to play in the first half following a Sean Wildes free throw, but a Hayk Gyokchyan steal and Georgio Milligan bucket in transition ignited a 15-2 Diplomats run that saw the home team push out to a 27-15 lead with 5:41 left in the half. F&M would take a 36-25 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of the break, F&M got a pair of free throws from James McNally and a three from Milligan to push its lead to 16. Junior Tim McCarty responded for the Blue Jays, scoring seven unanswered points to trim the deficit to nine. Senior John Alberici then sandwiched layups around a Mike Baker jumper and the Diplomats led 45-36 at 13:31. The teams would trade buckets over the next three minutes as the Diplomats gradually built their lead back to 14 points before the Blue Jays made things interesting down the stretch.

Alberici led the Blue Jays with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting as he was the only Blue Jay to finish in double digits. Milligan paced the Diplomats with a game-high 21 points, while McNally had eight points and eight rebounds.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 19 as the Blue Jays wrap up the 2010-11 season. Washington College visits Goldfarb Gym for the regular-season finale, with tip-off set for 1:00 pm.