The Hopkins men’s basketball team went into the Centennial Conference Tournament this weekend seeded third. It has been seven years since Hopkins last won the tournament, and they could only change that by beating the top two ranked teams, Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson. The Jays did just that, playing incredible defense against both teams and outperforming them down to the wire, beating F&M 50-48 and Dickinson 60-55. Many players on the team had strong performances during the tournament, but senior Connor McIntyre’s went unmatched. He put up double-digit points in both games and had 16 rebounds. For his dominating performance last week, The News-Letter is proud to announce Connor McIntyre as our Athlete of the Week.
The News-Letter: Against Franklin and Marshall (F&M) the team scored the least number of points they had in a game all season. How did the team change the way they played to be able to win a low scoring game?
Connor McIntyre: The F&M game was very physical throughout — not necessarily sloppy — but both teams were just playing very good defense. In a low-scoring game like that, I would say that the most important thing is to win the rebounding battle, buckle down on defense and execute offensive sets properly so that we can take advantage of what looks we do get when there is a slow pace.
N-L: Dickinson was the top seed in the tournament and had dominated the conference all year. You had played them twice before this weekend and lost both in very close games. What did the team learn from those games and do differently this time around?
CM: The main difference we took in our approach dealt with our defense, especially how we played their point guard. Daniel did a good job on him all year, but the rest of us needed to help more especially on screens. We did a much better job of that yesterday.
N-L: At the end of both games you seemed to bring out a new level of intensity, making a go ahead layup in the final minute of the semi finals that proved to be a game winner. The next day you tied the game and later solidified it by making all of your free throws in the final five minutes. What allowed you to stay calm and have success late in these tight and stressful games?
CM: I think that experience was the biggest help for me in terms of being ready down the stretch. I've played in the playoffs a few times here before, and even before that I played in the Philadelphia Catholic League in high school, which has some of the toughest competition around. It's easier to make foul shots in pressure situations if you've had to do it lots of times before.
N-L: You scored double-digit points in both tournament games and had 16 rebounds overall. How were you able to put up such dominant performances in the two most important and stressful games of the season?
CM: If we lost, it would have been the last really serious basketball game I ever played, and I wasn't really ready for that. This weekend I basically tried to just play within myself and do what I could to help keep our season going.
N-L: This is your senior year and the team has not won conferences since you have been here. Knowing it was your last chance to win, did you feel you wanted it even more this year?
CM: Yeah I did want it more this year just because of what we've gone through the last few years. My freshman year we were really bad, and we've steadily improved since then. Last year we lost to Dickinson in the playoffs and that gave us some good motivation to get them back this year.
N-L: With the win against Dickinson the team has gained a spot in the NCAA tournament. What are the team goals for the tournament, and what have you learned this past weekend that will help the team succeed there?
CM: At this point we just want to keep playing basketball as long as we can. None of us have played in the tournament before so we're all pretty excited. As long as we keep playing team basketball, outworking the other team, and trusting our coaches, we should be able to have continued success.
McIntyre and the Men’s Basketball team will look to continue their success in the NCAA tournament beginning this Friday against Virginia Wesleyan. None of the players have played in the NCAA tournament before, but if last weekend says anything about the team, it is that they will push down to the wire in every game, and have the potential to upset even top ranked teams.
