Washington College made four free throws in the final 18.2 seconds to fend off host Johns Hopkins, 64-59, in Centennial Conference men’s basketball action at Goldfarb Gym on Wednesday evening. The Shoremen improve to 10-6 overall and 6-3 in CC action, while the Blue Jays fall to 10-5 and 6-2 respectively.
Leading 52-51 6:07 left in the second half, Washington would score seven of the next nine points to take a 59-53 lead with 3:17 to go on a pair of free throws by senior forward Chris Olsen (Ellicott City, MD/Mount St. Joseph). Johns Hopkins scored the next four points to trim the lead to 59-57 with 2:24 to go on two free throws by Alex Pandrangi. Olsen would sink one free throw to give the Shoremen a 60-57 lead with 1:19 left. The Blue Jays answered on a George Bugarinovic layup with 1:06 to go to trim the lead to 60-59. After a missed free throw by Washington, Hopkins had a chance to take the lead, but Hopkins threw the ball away with :21.5 left. Schittino was fouled 3.3 seconds later and sank both free throws with :18.2 remaining to make it 62-59. On the Blue Jays, Adam Spengler’s three pointer was off the mark with seven ticks left and freshman guard John Weston (Atlanta, GA/Bolles School (FL) grabbed the rebound and was fouled with four seconds to go. Weston netted both free throws and sealed the deal for the Shoremen.
Washington raced out to a 9-5 lead in the first 3:59 of the first half, capping it on two free throws by senior guard Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti). After back to back layups by the Blue Jays’ Aleksander Nikolic tied the game at 9-9, the Shoremen went on a 7-2 run to take a 16-11 lead with 10:56 to go in the first on a three-pointer by senior guard Sal Schittino (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield). Hopkins went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:44 to take an 18-16 lead on a Daniel Corbett three with 9:12 left in the opening 20 minutes. Sophomore forward Kevin Cunningham (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) put WC up 29-27 with 2:37 left in the first on a triple, but the Blue Jays ended the first half on a 6-1 run to take a 33-30 lead into half. A Nikolic jumper with six ticks left closed out the scoring in the half.
After the Blue Jays scored the first point of the second half, the Shoremen scored the next eight straight points to take a 38-34 with 14:47 left in the contest on a lay-in by junior forward Charlie McShane (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford). The Shoremen retook the lead at 36-34 with a putback layup by Olsen. A layup by senior forward Adam Naymick (Hanover, PA/Delone Catholic) gave WC its biggest lead of the game at that point at 41-36 with 12:34 remaining in the tilt. The Blue Jays would score the next five points to knot the game at 41-41 with 11:22 to go on a Nikolic layup. WC would snap the tie 15 seconds later on a Naymick jumper and that would ignite a 9-3 run and put the visitors up 50-44 with 8:39 left in the game on a McShane trifecta. The Blue Jays would trim the lead to just one point at 52-51 with 6:07 remaining on a Mike Rhoads three.
Breslin had 13 points to lead the WC in the victory and led all players in scoring. Olsen added 12 points, while Schittino added 10 points for the guests. Weston had a career-high four steals to lead all players, while Breslin and Cunningham added three steals each. The Shoremen had 13 steals in the win. Olsen grabbed six boards to lead the squad. WC shot 35% from the floor, 33% from three-point range and 66% (21-for-32) from the foul line.
Bugarinovic and Spengler each had 11 points to lead the Blue Jays, while Connor McIntyre added 10 points. Spengler tallied a double-double as he grabbed 10 rebounds to lead all participants. JHU shot 44% from the floor, 15% from three-point range and 78% (25-for-32) from the charity stripe. The hosts were held without a field goal for the first 8:15 of the second half.
The Blue Jays had 23 turnovers, while the Shoremen had just 10. WC held a 22-11 edge in points off of turnovers.
The Shoremen will be on home on Saturday afternoon against visiting Muhlenberg. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m.
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