TOWSON, MD – Johns Hopkins played the spoiler on Monday night in an emotional game at Goucher College. The Blue Jays beat the host Gophers, 72-52, behind a 21-point effort from sophomore Jimmy Hammer. The game was played as a benefit for sophomore guard Damon Brooks, who was injured in a freak accident last spring, and the Mid-Atlantic Spinal Cord Injury Fund.
Goucher (1-4) fed off the emotion of having Brooks behind the bench and took an early 7-0 lead on Hopkins (3-1) as the Blue Jays missed on their first seven shots from the floor. Hopkins finally got on the board at the 14:37 mark with a fast break layup by Hammer. Senior Adam Spengler followed that with a bucket in the paint and it was a 7-4 game. The Gophers came right back with a triple from Julian Livingston and a layup from Alex Noble to take an eight-point lead.
Sophomore George Bugarinovic, the reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Week, kick-started a 16-1 run with a layup. Hammer followed with a three-pointer, the first of his four straight from downtown, and junior Aleksandar Nikolic put Hopkins on top, 14-12, with a jumper at 9:30. Sophomore Omar Randall capped the run with a three-pointer of his own to stake the Blue Jays to a 20-13 lead. A Troy DeShields' jumper and layup from Leroy Williams cut the deficit back to three with just over five minutes to play.
Hopkins answered with a 21-8 burst to end the half and take a 41-25 lead into the locker room. The Blue Jays held the Gophers to just two field goals in the final five minutes, while going 7-of-10 from the floor themselves. Hammer put the punctuation on his impressive first half, scoring the final 10 points of the stanza, including back-to-back triples, to finish with 18 points.
The Blue Jays picked up where they left off at the half, pushing out to a 24-point lead by the 14:25 mark in the second. Spengler got things going with a three-pointer off an Alex Pandrangi offensive rebound. Trailing 54-30, Goucher put together a 7-1 spurt that made it an 18-point game with 11:40 to play in the game. That's as close as the Gophers would get as the Blue Jays led by as much as 28 points before winning by a 20-point margin.
Hammer led all scorers with a career-high 21 points and hit five three-pointers for the second straight game. Bugarinovic posted his fifth career double-double, and first of the season, with 11 points and a career-high-tying 13 rebounds. Richard Harris paced the Gophers with 12 points, while DeShields contributed 11 points Hopkins won the battle of the boards, 51-35, including 19 offensive boards.
Hopkins returns to action on Thursday, November 29 as the Blue Jays travel to the Battlefield to take on the Gettysburg Bullets. The Centennial Conference match-up is slated for an 8:00 pm start at Bream Gym.