Nov. 24, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Freshman John Alberici scored 14 of his career-high 17 points in the second half and host Johns Hopkins hit 19-of-33 (.576) of its field goal attempts after halftime as the Blue Jays slipped past Washington College, 69-52, in the consolation semifinals of the 2007 Provident Pride of Maryland Tournament. The Blue Jays improve to 2-2 with the win and will play Villa Julie in the fifth-place game on Sunday afternoon at Hopkins' Goldfarb Gymnasium. Washington slips to 1-2 and will play Goucher in the seventh-place game.

Washington led 19-16 late in the first half before a free throw by Alberici and a buzzer-beating jumper by Phil Beggans knotted the game at 19 at the half. Alberici gave the Blue Jays the lead for good with a layup just 26 seconds into the second half and back-to-back three pointers by Pat O'Connell and Doug Polster in a span of less than 20 seconds pushed the lead to 27-19 and Alberici added three straight baskets inside to fuel what would become a 31-12 half-opening run to push the lead to 50-31 with 10:20 remaining.

Washington got back in the game with a 14-2 run that sliced the deficit to 52-45 with just under seven minutes remaining. A conventional three-point play by Tim Kohlrus helped ignite the run and a short jumper by Kohlrus made it a seven-point game, but Beggans scored on a fast-break 12 seconds after Kohlrus' jumper and added a three-pointer and a pair of free throws in a 40-second span to push the lead out to 59-45 and the Shoremen were never closer than 12 in the final three minutes.

Alberiri's 17 points led the Blue Jays, while Beggans added 14 and Polster 10. O'Connell and sophomore Scott Weisenfeld each scored nine points with Weisenfeld hitting all seven of his free throws to help seal the win for the Blue Jays.

Kohlrus scored a team-high 13 points to lead Washington, which also got 11 points from Alan Kines and 10 from Todd Green. The Blue Jays held a slim 31-29 advantage on the glass and hit 6-of-12 from behind the arc.