Jan. 19, 2008

Box Score

SWARTHMORE, PA - Junior Collin Kamm (Avon, NJ/Saint Rose) nailed a trey from the corner with 24 seconds remaining to give Johns Hopkins a one-point lead and sophomore Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) sealed the win with two free throws as Hopkins rallied for a 76-73 double overtime win at Swarthmore. The Blue Jays are now 9-6 overall and 5-3 in the Centennial Conference, while the Garnet fall to 3-11 overall and 0-8 in the Centennial.

Swarthmore's Matt Allen missed a pair of free throws with just nine ticks on the clock in the first overtime with senior captain Kevin Roach (Derwood, MD/Colonel Zadok Magruder) grabbing the rebound on the second miss. The Blue Jays quickly brought the ball up the court and trailing by three, junior Scott Weisenfeld (Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) stepped back and hit a long three with just 0.7 seconds on the clock to knot the score at 64-64. Swarthmore did not get a good look on the ensuing possession and the teams headed to a second overtime. Kamm's three-pointer with 24 seconds on the clock was Hopkins first and only lead of the second overtime.

Swarthmore took a 9-7 lead early on a jumper from Ian McCormick and the Garnet did not trail for the remainder of the first half. The Blue Jays stayed close as the Garnet never led by more than six points. Trailing by five with less than three minutes remaining in the first, sophomore Adam Baumgartner (Reston, VA/Bishop O'Connell) grabbed a rebound off his own missed shot, took one step in the paint and dunked the ball to make it 25-22. Senior Doug Polster (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) then hit a pull-up jumper with 1:50 remaining to cut the Garnet's lead to just one and that's how the teams went into the break.

Trailing 29-26, Kamm forced a turnover off Allen and converted a lay-up, followed by a bucket from Polster and Hopkins held a 30-29 lead with 15:31 to play. It was back-and-forth from there, with five ties and seven lead changes. Late in the half, the Blue Jays rallied with buckets from freshman John Alberici (West Chester, PA/Malvern Prep), Baumgartner and Roach to take a 45-44 lead with 7:44 to play. Roach then forced a turnover at the other end and Baumgartner hit a jumper in the paint and Hopkins was up three.

The Blue Jays pushed their lead to six with just 2:20 to play, but the Garnet would not go away. Ian McCormick hit a lay-up to cut it to four and then Allen hit one of two free throws. After a missed lay-up by Kamm with the shot clock winding down, the Garnet got the ball back with 33 seconds remaining and trailing by three. Swarthmore called a timeout and coming out of the break, Allen hit a three right in front of the Garnet bench to tie the game and force overtime.

Hopkins took a quick three-point lead in the first overtime, but a three from Allen tied it up again. McCormick then gave the Garnet the lead with a jumper in the paint with 1:44 left. Noam Fliegelman hit a pair of free throws to put Swarthmore up by five with just 18 ticks on the clock. The Blue Jays came right down and Baumgartner hit a lay-up to cut it to three with 11 seconds left. Allen then went to the free throw line and missed his two shots, setting up Weisenfeld's trey and the second overtime.

This time it was Swarthmore who took the early lead in the overtime and led by three with 1:33 left. After hitting a free throw to cut the deficit to two, O'Connell forced a turnover from McCormick and then Baumgartner was fouled by Ryan Carmichael. Baumgartner stepped to the line and calmly hit both free throws to tie the game. The Blue Jays then fouled quickly and Allen converted both free throws to give the Garnet back a two-point lead with 43 ticks on the clock. Kamm then nailed just his second three-pointer of the season and Hopkins had the lead. After a pair of missed Garnet buckets, O'Connell grabbed a defensive board and was fouled. He hit both of his shots to seal the win with three seconds left.

O'Connell led four Blue Jays in double figures with 17 points. Sophomore Andrew Farber-Miller (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield), Baumgartner and Alberici all chipped in 10 points. McCormick led all scorers with 28 points while also grabbing 12 boards. Hopkins forced 23 turnovers, while committing just 13. The Blue Jays extended their streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 306 games, while Polster has hit a three in 17 consecutive games.

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, January 23 when McDaniel visits Goldfarb Gym. The Centennial Conference game is set to tip at 7:00 pm.