ST. MARY'S CITY, MD – Eleventh-ranked St. Mary's held off an upset-minded Johns Hopkins team, 73-66, on Tuesday night in both teams' season opener. It was also the first round of the 2010 Pride of Maryland Championship as the Seahawks advance to Friday's semifinal while the Blue Jays slip to the consolation bracket. The Blue Jays got a game and career-high 20 points from junior Tim McCarty as he posted his first career double-double.
St. Mary's led by just one with 7:16 to play after a put back from sophomore Sean Wildes made it a 58-57 game. But the Seahawks pushed their lead back to eight with a 9-2 run punctuated by a three-pointer from Mike Fitzpatrick with 4:49 on the clock. Hopkins chipped away at the deficit with free throws from four different players to cut the deficit to four with just 16 seconds to play. Hopkins was forced to foul following a pair of free throws from senior Mike Henrici, sending Fitzpatrick to the line. He missed the front end, but made the second pushing the lead to five with 14 seconds left. Hopkins failed to convert on its next possession and a foul with two seconds to play sent Fitzpatrick back to the line where he made both shots to close out the game.
It was a back-and-forth game early as both teams settled in. With the game tied at 6-6 after a layup from senior John Alberici, the Seahawks put together a 9-2 run to push out to a seven-point lead. Hopkins answered with a triple from McCarty and a pair of buckets from Wildes to tie the game for the fourth time at 15-15 midway through the first half. A jumper from Kyle Jarczynski gave St. Mary's back the lead, a lead the Seahawks would not relinquish.
It was still a two-point game with 7:19 to go in the first after a jumper from freshman Matt Kelly. But the Seahawks put together another run, to take an eight-point lead capped by a three-pointer from Devin Spencer that made it a 33-25 game. But Hopkins was not going away as the Blue Jays closed out the half on a 9-4 run to make it just a three-point game at the half. McCarty capped the run with a pair of free throws a bucket in the paint as he finished the first half with 14 points.
The deficit continued to see-saw up-and-down in the second half as the Seahawks could not push their lead into double-digits. Despite shooting just 31.8 percent from the floor in the second half, the Blue Jays kept hanging around. Trailing by nine with 14:44 on the clock, Hopkins got a bucket from freshman Aleksandar Nikolic to kick start a quick 9-3 run that saw the Blue Jays cut the deficit to three. But once again, St. Mary's had an answer and pushed its lead back to seven with buckets from Christian MacAuley and Deon Queen.
Another 9-3 run from Hopkins, fueled by a pair of buckets from sophomore Adam Spengler and capped by Wildes' layup with 7:16 to go and it was a one-point game. That would be as close as the Blue Jays would get as the two-time defending Pride of Maryland champion Seahawks held on for the win.
McCarty led all scorers with 20 points while also grabbing a game-high 10 boards. Spengler was the only other Blue Jay in double figures as he finished with a career-high 11 points. Five freshmen saw action for the Blue Jays, with Kelly leading the way for the newcomers with nine points in his collegiate debut. For the Seahawks, Sam Burum and Alex Franz led four St. Mary's players in double figures with 15 points apiece. Franz also had a game-high six assists and three steals.
Hopkins shot 42.6 percent from the field for the game, while converting just 65.7 percent of its free throws. The Blue Jays did win the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Seahawks 42-28. St. Mary's shot 49.1 percent for the game but just 53.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Hopkins moves to the consolation bracket and will face Goucher College at 4:15 on Friday at Stevenson University.