This past Saturday, the Hopkins men’s basketball traveled to face off against Centennial Conference rival and the 21st ranked Swarthmore College Garnet at the Swarthmore College Tarble Pavilion. Despite the Jays’ strong start, the Garnet was able to pull away with a 70-48 victory, bettering their record to 19-4 on the season and 13-3 in Conference. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays fell to a still solid 11-5 in the Centennial.
At first, the contest was fiercely competitive, as both teams raced out to a strong start. The lead was swapped between both teams six times within the first 17 minutes of play. The Garnet was able to capture the lead for good after the fifth tie of the game. At 22-22, Swarthmore would quickly score four points to capture the lead, which they would not relinquish.
The Blue Jays did manage to close the gap toward the end of the first half, making it a one-point game. But then the Garnet would go on a 13-3 run to take a 43-32 lead into the half.
Starting the second half with two quick field goals, Swarthmore extended its lead to 15 before junior forward Kyle Doran and sophomore Michael Gardner countered with four points of their own, bringing it to an 11-point game.
Unfortunately, the Jays’ run was quickly quelled, as the Garnet’s guard Cam Wiley answered with eight points of his own to start an 18-0 run for Swarthmore. Swarthmore now carried a 29-point lead, putting the game even further out of reach for the visiting Blue Jays. Freshman Harry O’Neil would end the scoreless run for Hopkins with four points, putting the Jays behind 65-40.
The final six minutes of the game was slowed by fouls on both sides; The Garnet and the Blue Jays combined to go 11-15 from the free throw line while only making one field goal in the remainder of the game.
The tough loss certainly left the Blue Jays bitter.
“The game was definitely a reminder that we cannot take the postseason for granted. We know that if we take care of business at home this week, we will have a strong finish to the regular season,” freshman guard Mac Rowan said. “We can make a push to try and win the Centennial Conference. Until then, we just have to play each game one at a time and focus on going 1-0 in each game.”
Gardner led Hopkins with 15 points, while graduate student forward Sam Gordon led the team in rebounds with five. Leading all scorers was Swarthmore’s Cam Wiley with 25 points, 15 of which came from beyond the three-point line.
The loss was the Blue Jays’ first to the Garnet since 2011. Nonetheless, the Jays remain 113-37 all-time against the Garnet. The Jays now sit tied with the Dickinson College Red Devils for second place in the Centennial Conference standings.
However, Dickinson owns the tiebreaker against the Blue Jays, as the Red Devils swept the season series 2-0. Hopkins finishes the regular season against the Haverford College Fords. The game is set to take place at Goldfarb Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m.
