For Immediate Release – 12/29/12 - #166
First Half Spurt Lifts Randolph Men's Basketball Past Johns Hopkins Saturday 70-48
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA – Randolph College scored the 29 of the game's first 33 points and led by as much as 25 in earning a 70-48 non-conference victory over the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University in men's hoops' action from the Bojangles Holiday Challenge Saturday night from Fleet Gymnasium.
Johns Hopkins scored the first bucket of the game to lead 2-0, but that was short lived as Randolph rattled off a 29-2 run over the next 10 minutes to lead 29-4. The Blue Jays (5-4) didn't go away though, as they used a 14-3 spurt to close the half to cut the WildCat lead to 13 heading into the break.
After the intermission, things really got interesting as Johns Hopkins opened the second period on a 7-0 stretch to cut the lead to six with 18:09 left. JHU would get to within five with 15:45 left on a pair of free throws by Alex Pandrangi. Senior Colton Hunt (Whittier, NC/Smoky Mountain) dashed the hopes of the Blue Jays over the next six-plus minutes, as he scored 13 points on five-of-six shooting to help Randolph retake a 19-point lead at 58-39 with 8:10 to play.
The WildCats would coast to their 10th win of the year over the final quarter of the contest, becoming the second Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) team with double-digit wins this season, as well as staying as the lone conference school without a blemish on the win-loss slate.
Hunt led all scorers on the evening as he netted a game-high of 25 points on nine-of-14 shooting. Things were a little tough on Hunt in terms of getting into the lane, but his outside shooting was on-point, as he hit four-of-seven from deep. First-year Jason Eddie (Charlotte, NC/Davidson Day School) had 10 points, and junior Mike Ehilegbu (Raleigh, NC/Ravenscroft) scored nine points, grabbed four boards and dished out three assists.
First-year guard Evan Horn (Westminster, MD/Winters Mill) hit three shots from deep for nine points, and post players Chris Battaglia (Smithfield, VA/Portsmouth) and Alex Conwell (Cary, NC/Green Hope) had seven and six points, respectively. Randolph shot 47.3 percent on the evening, hitting on 12-of-28 shots from three-land (42.9 percent).
JHU was led by the nine points from Mike Rhoads, who hit three second-half triples, while Matt Chiusano and Conner McIntyre each had six points apiece. Blue Jays' leading scorer George Bugarinovic was stifled all night, as he scored only four points after picking up two early fouls. JHU shot 19-of-52 from the floor, hitting on only a 36.5 percent clip. The Jays were also eight-of-28 in the first half, including missing all eight from behind the arc.
Randolph will finish play at the Bojangles Holiday Challenge Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. as it battles the Hawks of Huntingdon College in more action from Hampden-Sydney College.
--RANDOLPH--