HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA - Hampden-Sydney Basketball pulled away from Johns Hopkins in the second half to defeat the Blue Jays 73-58 to conclude the Bojangles Holiday Challenge. Randolph College defeated Huntingdon 75-73 in overtime to open the day.

Harrison George (Raleigh, NC / Leesville Road) was named the Challenge MVP while Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, VA / Maury) and Kodie Critzer (Charlottesville, VA / St. Anne's-Belfield) were named to the All-Challenge team. The remainder of the All-Challenge team is as follows: Colton Hunt (Randolph), Mike Rhoads (Johns Hopkins), and Ryan Petty (Huntingdon)

It was a back-and-forth contest throughout the first half, but the Tigers led for the majority of the stanza. It didn't take long to get a highlight play as a Keegan Wetzel (Mebane, NC / Eastern Alamance) connected with Williamson for an alley oop dunk to put Hampden-Sydney up 4-3 at the 17:59 mark. Jimmy Hammer made a jumper to put JHU back on top, but Mike Murray (Norfolk, VA / Norfolk Christian) connected on two free throws to regain the lead. George Bugarinovic scored a layup to give JHU the 7-6 lead, but that would be the last lead the Blue Jays would have in the contest.

The lead continued to float between 4-5 points over the next eight minutes. Following two Alex Pandrangi free throws at 9:18 to cut the Tiger lead to 16-14, George scored the next five points to make it a 21-14 contest a minute later. H-SC would lead by as many as nine in the first half, and after two Sam Dale (Charlottesville, VA / Covenant) free throws with 2:33 left intermission to put H-SC up 29-21, Mike Rhoads and Bugarinovic scored the next four points. Murray answered with a momentum shifting three pointer from the top of the key just before the end of half buzzer to make it a 32-25 lead going into halftime.

Johns Hopkins opened up the half strong and trailed by just three, 34-31, at 18:27. Murray responded with another big three-pointer to stem the Hopkins rally. Bugarinovic scored a layup on the next possession, but H-SC took the momentum behind a Williamson alley oop dunk on a Blue Jays defender and a Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) steal and layup to start a 10-2 run. The Tigers found themselves with a 47-35 lead at 11:41 following the run. Jimmy Hammer looked to end the run with a four-point play, but Hampden-Sydney scored 12 of the game's next 14 points to go up 59-41 with 7:44 left to put the game out of reach for Johns Hopkins.

George scored a game-high 21 points, shooting 10-14 overall, along with five rebounds, five steals, and four assists. Williamson contributed 10 points and two blocks, and Murray added 10 points, six assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Cam Anderson (Charlottesville, VA / Blue Ridge) tacked on a game-high six rebounds along with five points.

Mike Rhoads scored a team-high 14 points while Jimmy Hammer and George Bugarinovic each had 11 points.

Hampden-Sydney shot 31-60 (51.7%) overall, 4-17 (23.5%) from three, and 7-10 (70%) from the free throw line. Johns Hopkins went 21-44 (47.7%) from the floor, 4-14 (28.6%) from three range, and 12-16 (75%) from the free throw stripe. Johns Hopkins turned over the ball 22 times, resulting in 28 points off turnovers for the Tigers. 

Hampden-Sydney returns to action on Saturday at Guilford College at 4 pm in ODAC action.