After a win against McDaniel College and a loss to Ursinus, the Hopkins men's basketball team moved to 15-8 overall and 11-5 in the Centennial Conference. With the win against McDaniel, the Blue Jays clinched a berth into the Centennial Conference tournament. With two games left in the regular season, the Blue Jays are tied for second place in the conference with Muhlenberg College and Dickinson College.
The 70-60 win over McDaniel featured four Blue Jays in double figures, led by sophomore Jimmy Hammer, who tallied 20 points on the night to lead all scorers. Senior Adam Spengler added to the strong offensive performance with 16 points and four assists while freshman Matt Chiusano and sophomore George Bugarinovic added 11 and 10 points respectively.
Junior guard Daniel Corbett explained, “Against McDaniel our seniors really stepped up. We had a great game plan and we executed.”
In addition to the strong offensive performance, the Blue Jays were relentless on defense.
“We held their best player to 1-19 shooting. Which is tough to do,” Corbett said.
The team also forced 11 turnovers in the match-up to fuel their offensive opportunities.
Hopkins stumbled on Saturday as they fell to Ursinus 58-50. The loss snapped a six-game win streak for the Blue Jays. With 7:04 left to play in the first half, Hopkins led by eight points and was up 30-28 at the half. The start to the second half featured several lead changes but the Bears took the lead with 10:33 left to play.
Ursinus maintained their lead and never looked back on their way to victory. Bugarinovic contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Jays, posting his fifth double-double of the season. Spengler also contributed 10 points in the loss. The Blue Jays made 19 of 62 field goals on the night and were just 1-18 from beyond the three point arc.
Corbett reflected on the difficult loss saying, “We obviously wish we would have played better. Our shots just didn't fall.”
The team will look to bounce back this week against first-place Franklin & Marshall College and fifth-place Washington College on Wednesday and Saturday respectively.
The Blue Jays continue to drill and make sure that they finish with two wins to end the regular season in order to prepare themselves for a strong playoff run.
Corbett explained, “We're still very confident that we can finish the season strong with two big wins against Franklin & Marshall and Washington College. Franklin & Marshall is a very good team, but they can be beat and we have the talent to win. If we cut down on our turnovers and limit our opponents’ offensive rebounds, we'll have a great shot of winning both games.”
Assistant Coach Matt Righter also stressed the importance of drawing a strong fan-base for Saturday night’s matchup against Franklin & Marshall—a “Coaches vs. Cancer” contest.
Righter noted that, “Saturday is our last home game as well as senior night. One of the 'keys' to any game will be the fans. When our fans show up, they are the best in the league. I hope to see them out there on Saturday to support our senior players.”
The Blue Jays will look to finish the season with two wins and gain momentum going into the playoffs. The “little things” will be central to the team's success in the upcoming weeks.
"It is important to build momentum" explained Righter. "Specifically, we want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. The keys to playing our best basketball lie in the way we execute the small plays, which don't always show up in statistics. Little things such as setting hard screens, boxing out, establishing position in the post and communicating are all areas in which we really need to do well if we want to make a serious run in the playoffs. We have had great leadership this year from our seniors, which makes me believe that the "little things" will be taken care of.”
