Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team won its second Centennial Conference Championship on Sunday with a 68-61 win over Haverford at Goldfarb Gym. With the win, the Blue Jays (23-4) earn the conference's automatic qualifier for the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The five Hopkins seniors combined for 52 of the Blue Jays 68 points in the win.

The Blue Jays got off to a slow start at the beginning of the game, as the Fords took a quick 5-0 lead. Haverford held onto to its lead until a jumper by senior Danny Nawrocki (Syosset, NY/Chaminade) at 11:45 gave Hopkins a 12-11 lead - that capped a 5-0 Blue Jays run. The Fords answered with a lay-up from Chaz Thomas to give the visitors back a one-point lead. A back-and-forth ensued as the teams battled to a 20-20 tie with 7:43 to play in the half.

Hopkins rallied with 10 points from senior Matt Griffin (Glen Mills, PA/Penncrest), freshman Patrick O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) and senior Chris Morley (North Salem, NY/North Salem) to go up 30-20. Haverford closed the half on a 6-4 run to make it a 34-26 game at the half. The five Hopkins seniors combined for 30 of the Blue Jays 34 points in the first half, led by T.J. Valerio (Blue Bell, PA/St. Joseph's Prep) and Griffin with 10 points apiece.

Haverford came out firing in the second half, as the Fords rallied to tie the game at 44-44 at 11:24. Hopkins answered with a lay-up from senior Zack Armen (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset) as the Blue Jays went on a 7-2 run. Haverford rallied again, taking a 52-51 lead on a three-pointer by Thomas at 7:26. Junior Doug Polster (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards) answered with a trey, giving the lead back to Hopkins. The Blue Jays would never trail for the remainder of the game.

Leading 58-56 with 3:10 to play, Hopkins outscored Haverford 10-5 to close out the game thanks to solid free throw shooting. The Blue Jays converted 10-of-13 from the charity stripe in the closing minutes to seal the win. For the game Hopkins shot 23-of-31 (74.2%) from the line. The Blue Jays shot 57.1% from the floor for the game, while the Fords shot 46.9% from the floor.

Griffin led Hopkins with 18 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 from the line. Nawrocki grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds and punched up 10 points for his 36th career double-double and 15th of the season. Valerio had 17 points for the Jays. Thomas led the Fords with a game-high 24 points while Mike Fratangelo chipped in 21.

The Blue Jays will make their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and eighth under head coach Bill Nelson. It is the first appearance for Hopkins in the tournament since the 1998-99 season - the last time Hopkins won the Centennial Conference Tournament. The NCAA will announce the tournament selections on www.NCAASports.com Sunday night. The bracket will be released on Monday morning. Stay tuned to www.HopkinsSports.com for details on the Blue Jays tournament schedule.