TOWSON, MD – Sophomore Daniel Corbett sank four triples in the second half en route to a career-high 17 points as Johns Hopkins beat host Goucher, 53-49, in the opening round of the 2011 Pride of Maryland Tournament. The win was the 400th at Hopkins for head coach Bill Nelson, the winningest coach in school history. The Blue Jays open the season with a win for the 20th time under Nelson, who is in his 26th season.
Goucher rallied to take a 42-39 lead, its first of the game, with a 15-5 run capped by a Trae Lindsay layup with 7:28 to play. A free throw from senior Tim McCarty and back-to-back triples from Corbett put the Blue Jays back on top 46-42. Freshman Jimmy Hammer pushed the lead to six with a pair of shots from the line at 4:27. The Gophers then cut the deficit back to one with five unanswered points from Alex Noble. Leading 48-47 with 1:49 on the clock, Corbett let the clock wind down, then drove the paint and dumped the ball down to sophomore Connor McIntyre, who laid it in for two.
Corbett then grabbed the rebound off a missed Noble trey on the other end and McCarty sank a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession to give Hopkins a 52-47 lead with 31 seconds to play. Corbett picked the pocket of Kendrick Maybank on the Gophers' next possession and then drew a foul on a drive to the basket. He hit one of his two free throws to push the lead to six. Damon Brooks pushed the ball up the floor and laid one in with 12 second left to make it a four-point game and account for the final score.
Junior Adam Spengler and McIntyre sandwiched a pair of layups around a Brooks' jumper and Hopkins led 16-11 with 5:34 to play in the opening half. McCarty and Corbett then went 4-of-4 from the line and the Blue Jays lead grew to eight. Noble answered with a bucket in the paint, followed by a Shane Yambor layup to make it a 20-16 game with 1:08 on the clock. Junior Alex Pandrangi capped the first half scoring with a pair off the glass as Hopkins took a 22-16 lead into the locker room.
Coming out of the half, a pair of Marcus Cotton buckets for Goucher made it a three-point game less than two minutes in. Hopkins answered with a triple from Corbett and a McCarty layup to retake its eight-point lead. The lead continued to see-saw up and down until the Gophers put together their 15-5 run midway through the half to take their first lead of the game – which lasted just over two minutes.
Corbett paced the Blue Jays with a career-high 17 points and also handed out four assists, as he went 4-of-6 from downtown in the second half from downtown. McCarty was just shy of a double-double as he pulled down 10 boards and chipped in nine points. Noble led the Gophers with 19 points, with 17 of those coming in the second half. Lindsay pulled down a game-high 12 boards, as Goucher won the battle of the boards (53-39). Poor free throw shooting by the Gophers did them in as they went just 9-of-23 (39.1) from the line for the game.
Hopkins returns to action on Friday, November 18 as the Blue Jays will host the championship bracket of the Pride of Maryland. Hopkins will face St. Mary's in the semifinals on Friday at 8:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym.