WC Basketball Defeats Johns Hopkins

Host Washington College got 42 points from its reserves, including a career-high 16 from freshman guard Donovan Womack (Newark, DE/Delcastle), as the Shoremen defeated visiting Johns Hopkins University, 71-62, in a Centennial Conference men’s basketball game tonight inside Cain Athletic Center. The win was the Shoremen’s (5-11, 4-5 Centennial) fifth in a row over the Blue Jays (4-12, 2-7), their longest winning streak in the all-time series since winning nine in a row in span stretching from the 1977-78 season to the 1981-82 season.

Neither team led by more than five points in the first half as the period saw 13 lead changes and six ties. Fittingly, the halftime score was a 29-29 deadlock.

Hopkins held a 38-35 lead with 14:13 left in the second half before the Shoremen went on an 8-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers by Womack, to take a 43-38 lead with 13:13 remaining. The Blue Jays rallied to tie the score at 44-44 on a lay-up by Adam Spengler with 11:21 to go, but the Shoremen ran off 10 of the next 13 points to build a 54-47 lead on a lay-up by junior forward Chris Olsen (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) with 7:54 to go. Washington led by at least three points the rest of the way at shot 7-of-8 at the free-throw line over the final 54 seconds to seal the win.

Womack shot 6-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range en route to his 16 points. Sophomore forward Chris Soper (Poolesville, MD/Poolesville) added a career-high 10 points off the bench, while junior guard Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti) netted 10 points of his own to go along with four assists and five boards. Olsen finished with eight points and a career0best 10 rebounds, while senior guard Dylan Bernstein (Laytonsville, MD/Gaithersburg) handed out a game-high five assists.

Connor McIntyre led a strong 36-point effort from the Hopkins bench as he scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 shooting from the charity stripe. McIntyre also grabbed eight rebounds. Tim McCarty brought down a career-best 18 rebounds to go along with eight points. Mike Henrici scored 10 points for Hopkins.

Hopkins shot 41% from the field to Washington’s 37%, but the Shoremen were 8-for-14 from three-point range and 19-of-24 at the free-throw line, while the Blue Jays were 1-of-9 and 13-of-20, respectively. The Blue Jays held a commanding 48-34 advantage on the boards, but turned the ball over 17 times to the Shoremen’s seven.

The Shoremen return to action Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. Centennial Conference game at Muhlenberg.