BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team rallied for a 17-point deficit with 13:25 to play to beat visiting Gettysburg, 64-59, Thursday night in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays win their fourth straight and improve to 13-7 overall and 9-4 in the conference. The Bullets see their three-game win streak snapped as they fall to 11-9 overall and 7-6 in the conference.
Derek Brooks scored on a fast-break layup to put Gettysburg on top 46-29 with 13:25 to play in the game. The bucket capped an 11-3 spurt by the Bullets that spanned halftime as they took their biggest lead of the game at 17 points. On a fast break after a Bullets' turnover, sophomore Jimmy Hammer found junior Daniel Corbett in traffic under the basket for a reverse layup at 12:35. That bucket ignited an 18-4 that saw Hopkins trim that 17-point deficit to just three with 5:35 to go. It also ended a nearly seven-minute scoreless drought for the Blue Jays.
Hopkins pulled the within single digits on a Corbett three-pointer at 9:51 making it an eight-point game. Alex Zurn got one point back with a free throw for the Bullets, but the Jays came right back with six unanswered points and Gettysburg's lead was 50-47 at 5:35. Gettysburg called timeout and coming out of the break got a bucket from Benjamin Constable. The Blue Jays answered with a 12-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into a seven-point lead. Senior Adam Spengler layup to cut it to three, followed by a baseline jumper from junior Connor McIntyre, and the deficit was one. Spengler then drained a pair of free throws and the Blue Jays had their first lead since 15:36 in the first half.
Hopkins capped the run with four straight free throws from Hammer and Spengler, staking the Blue Jays to a 59-52 lead with 51 ticks on the clock. Sango Amolo pulled the Bullets within five with a drive and finish with 33 seconds to play. Hammer once again converted two shots from the line but Gettysburg answered with a three-pointer from Derek Brooks and it was a 61-57 game with 24 seconds still to play. Spengler went to the line on the ensuing possession and knocked them both down. Amolo kept the Bullets hopes alive with another bucket but they had to send Bugarinovic to the line. He hit the first but missed the second. Constable controlled the rebound with 12 seconds to play, but the Bullets weren't able to get a shot off until the final second and Brooks shot missed the mark.
The Blue Jays came out of the game with a 7-2 lead but the Bullets responded with a 14-2 run that gave the visitors a 16-9 lead. Connor Poston put the punctuation on the run with an old-fashioned three-point play at the 13:36 mark. Hopkins got back within three just 90 seconds later with four points from senior Alex Pandrangi and two from freshman Matt Chiusano, but a 12-4 spurt by Gettysburg pushed the lead back to 11 with 4:49 to go in the half. The teams traded buckets over the remainder of the half and the Bullets took a 39-26 lead into the locker room on Constable's basket at the buzzer.
Senior Mike Rhoads hit a three-pointer to open the second-half scoring for the Blue Jays, but the Bullets came back with seven unanswered points to push their lead to 17. Hopkins, who was just 1-of-9 to star the second half, went 10-of-15 (.667) in the final 12:35 to fuel the rally.
Spengler led the Blue Jays with 12 points, going 6-of-6 from the free throw line, with two assists and one steal. Bugarinovic also finished in double figures and just missed a double-double with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Amolo led all scorers with 17 points for Gettsyburg while Zurn finished with 11 points.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 2 against Swarthmore in the 12th annual Wall-O'Mahony Game. Tip off is set for 1:00 pm at Goldfarb Gymnasium.