Feb. 9, 2011

Box Score

WESTMINSTER, MD - Senior John Alberici scored four straight points and freshman Daniel Corbett hit two free throws as Johns Hopkins rallied and took a 47-45 win at McDaniel Wednesday night in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays move to 6-16 on the season, 4-11 in the conference, and win their second straight at the Gill Center. The Green Terror meanwhile, who entered the night in a four-way tie for third in the conference, fall to 11-11 overall and 8-7 in the Centennial.

McDaniel took a one-point lead on a three-pointer by Michael Jarboe at 2:23. The Green Terror then got a stop on defense and Marcus Dyson hit the front-end of a one-and-one to push the lead to two. Hopkins came right back and Alberici sank a pair from the line to tie the game at 43-43 with 1:28 to play. Following a missed Dyson layup and a defensive rebound for junior Tim McCarty, Alberici hit a bucket in the paint to give Hopkins a two-point lead - the 16th lead change of the game - with 49 seconds on the clock. The Blue Jays got another stop on defense and a defensive rebound for McCarty.

Corbett was fouled and hit the back-end of a pair of free throws to push the lead to three. The Green Terror pushed the ball up and Dyson kissed one off the glass to cut it back to one with 11.1 seconds to play. Corbett was fouled again on the inbounds play and again hit one-of-two. McDaniel got the ball in the hands of Cullen Murray-Kemp, whose three-point shot went begging, and sophomore Mike Rhoads grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded.

The first half was just a sign of things to come as the teams combined for just 47 points to go with six ties and 10 lead changes. The Blue Jays trailed by one with time winding down in the opening half until Corbett hit a fall-away baseline jumper with 1.1 seconds on the clock to send Hopkins to the locker room with a 24-23 lead.

The lead changed hands three times in the opening six minutes of the second half before a Jarboe three-pointer - the Green Terror's first of the game - gave McDaniel a two-point lead. That ignited a 10-2 McDaniel run that saw the Green Terror take a 37-31 lead with 9:55 to play. Hopkins answered with a 10-0 run, as Rhoads and Alberici combined to score all 10 points to put the Blue Jays on top 41-37. Dyson and Sarris-Grau each hit the front-end of one-and-ones over a 39-second span to trim the deficit to just two with 3:09 on the clock. Jarboe then put McDaniel back on top with McDaniel's second three-pointer of the night.

Alberici led the Blue Jays with a game-high 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Rhoads finished with nine points on three three-pointers. Jarboe led the Green Terror with 10 points, while Evan Pupelis had a team-high six rebounds. Hopkins and McDaniel finished dead-even at 42.5 percent shooting on the night, while the Blue Jays out did the Green Terror in the second half (41.2 percent compared to 33.3 percent). Hopkins also won the battle of the boards, 31-21. It is the lowest scoring game in the series since a 48-44 Hopkins win on February 27, 1947.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 12 as the Blue Jays travel to Collegeville, PA to take on Ursinus. Tip off for the Centennial Conference match-up is set for 3:00 pm.