Feb. 22, 2013

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA - Second-seeded Dickinson rallied late to defeat third-seeded Johns Hopkins, 73-64, in the Centennial Conference Semifinals Friday night at host Franklin & Marshall. The Blue Jays end their season with a 16-10 record for their most wins since the 2007-08 season when the Jays also went 16-10. The Red Devils improve to 19-7 and will face F&M in the title game on Saturday.

After a 15-2 run by Dickinson saw the Red Devils turn an 11-point deficit into a two-point lead, sophomore Jimmy Hammer drained three-pointers on three straight possessions to stake Hopkins to a 58-53 lead. Adam Honig and Hammer then traded buckets and the lead was still five with 4:55 to play in the game. From there the Red Devils would outscore the Blue Jays 18-4 to earn their second trip in three years to the conference championship game. Chris Barsanti hit a layup under the basket and Steve Collins put back a Honig miss and it was a one-point game. Tucker Landy then hit a triple and Dickinson had the lead.

Junior Connor McIntyre tied the game with a pair of free throws at the 2:36 mark. But a Honig jumper swung the lead back to Dickinson and the Devils would not trail again. Following a pair of missed Blue Jay jumpers, Gerry Wixted drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to push the lead to five. Dickinson would seal the win at the free throw line with six shots from the stripe before McIntyre would put back a miss to close out the scoring.

Hopkins pushed out to a seven-point lead at the 14:22 mark in the first on an Adam Spengler three-pointer. Collins answered with a three for the Red Devils, but a Spengler jumper and a Hammer triple gave the Blue Jays a 20-11 lead. Dickinson could get no closer than five over the ensuing five minutes until finally putting together a seven-point burst to make it a one-point game. Hopkins answered with a seven-point spurt of its own to push out to a 34-26 lead with 4:36 to play in the half. Sophomore Luke Chambers scored five straight points before McIntyre drained a baseline jumper to make it an eight-point game once again. The teams traded baskets to close out the half and Hopkins led 38-32 at the break.

Wixted cut the deficit in half with a three-pointer just over a minute into the second half. But Hammer came right back with a layup to spark a 9-1 run as the Blue Jays took an 11-point lead. Junior Daniel Corbett capped the run with a three-pointer at the 13:02 mark. Dickinson called timeout to stem the tide and it worked as the Red Devils scored 11 unanswered points to tie the game at 47 apiece with 9:11 to go. Sophomore George Bugarinovic hit a pair of free throws to put the Jays back up by two, but back-to-back buckets from Barsanti and Tucker Landy completed the 15-2 comeback.

Hammer led four Blue Jays in double figures with a game-high 21 points. He drained five three-pointers to finish the season with 64 triples, the fifth most in school history. Spengler scored 13 points, while McIntyre chipped in 11 points and Corbett had 10 points. McIntyre also blocked four shots and grabbed nine rebounds. Wixted and Honig each notched double-doubles for the Red Devils, finishing with 18 points and 10 respectively. Wxited also grabbed 10 rebounds, while Honig pulled a game-high 11.