Box Score

The Basics
• Score: Johns Hopkins-75, Washington College-71
• Records: JHU (10-6, 6-3) • WC (5-11, 1-8 CC)
• Location: Chestertown, MD • Cain Athletic Center
• The Short Story: Head coach Bill Nelson earned his 600th career win on Wednesday night as the Johns Hopkins men's basketball team beat host Washington College, 75-71. Hopkins led wire-to-wire and it looked like the Blue Jays would win easily for Nelson's milestone win, but the Shoremen would give the Jays a battle in this one.

How it Happened
• The Jays opened the game on an 8-0 run as graduate student Sam Gordon scored the team's first six points. The Shoremen got on the board at the 16:59-mark with a Tas Dixon bucket and then cut the deficit in half 34 seconds later.
• The teams traded buckets over the ensuing three minutes as the lead varied between four and six points. Leading 15-11 with 13:27 to play in the half, a fast-break layup by senior Max McKee sparked a 7-2 spurt as the Blue Jays pushed their lead to nine.
• Washington College answered with a run of its own when James Drury sank a pair of free throws at 9:35. That was the first of seven unanswered points for the home team as it sliced the deficit to just two in a two-minute span.
• Junior Kyle Doran ended the run with a conventional three-point play to ignite an 18-2 run that spanned four minutes and saw Hopkins take a 40-24 lead. WC came right back and outscored JHU 8-0 to end the half and make it a 40-32 game at the break.
• Sophomore Michael Gardner opened the second-half scoring with a bucket from downtown, one of his five on the night. Back-to-back baskets, including a three from Dallas Marshall, cut the deficit to six with 17:24 to play.
• Gardner answered with another three and the Blue Jays and the Shoremen swapped baskets over the next five and a half minutes. The Blue Jays could not push their lead to more than 10 points during that stretch. Washington College used a 7-0 burst over a three and a half minute stretch to make it a three-point game with 7:51 on the clock.
• Hopkins pushed its lead right back to 10 with seven unanswered points, capped by a pair of free throws from Gordon. The double-digit lead was short lived however, as the Shoremen used a 14-5 run to pull within one with 35 ticks on the clock. Joey Shelton and Marshall did much of the damage during that stretch, scoring 10 of the team's points.
• The Blue Jays would seal this one at the free throw line, going 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final 28 seconds. Free throws proved to be the difference in the game as Hopkins went 19-of-25 (.760) from the line while Washington College went 13-of-24 (.542).

What it Means
• Nelson is the 18th coach in NCAA Division III history to win 600 games and the eighth active coach. In his 37th year of coaching, his record now stands at 600-341 (.637). Nelson is also approaching his 500th win as the head coach at JHU. His record for the Hopkins Blue & Black is 495-308 (.616) in 31 seasons.
• Hopkins improves to 76-61 all-time against Washington College and has won eight of the last nine meetings.

Inside the Box Score
• Gordon led the Blue Jays with a game and career-high 20 points, on 7-of-12 shooting. He also grabbed eight boards as the Jays dominated on the glass (48-29).
• Gardner just missed out on a double-double with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds. He also dished a game and career-high six helpers. Doran finished in double figures as well as he added 12 points, with eight of those coming from the line.
• Sophomore Daniel Vila nearly had his first career double-double as he finished with nine points and nine boards, to go with four blocks.
• Drury led three Shoremen in double digits with 13 points while Shelton chipped in 10. Marshall finished with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Up Next
• Hopkins returns home to take on Muhlenberg on Saturday, January 21. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym.