BALTIMORE, MD – Wesley defeated host Johns Hopkins, 90-76, Saturday night to win the 23rd annual Blue Jay Invitational. Hopkins suffers its first loss of the season to fall to 1-1 while Wesley remains unbeaten at 2-0. Juniors George Bugarinovic and Jimmy Hammer were named to the all-tournament team for the Blue Jays.
Sophomore Gene Williams put Hopkins on top with a three-pointer from the corner at the 8:38-mark in the first. But Wesley answered with a 17-4 run that staked the Wolverines to a 42-31 advantage with 3:35 to go. David Langan, who earned tournament MVP honors, sandwiched buckets around a jumper by Quincy Pettiford to put Wesley ahead by four points. Sophomore Matt Billups cut the deficit in half with a layup on the other end, but the Langan came right back with an old-fashioned three-point play. Langan and Pettiford would score all 17 Wolverine points to fuel the run.
Hammer made it an eight-point game with a triple, his eighth of the weekend, at 2:25. But Wesley responded with a 6-2 burst to take a 48-36 lead into the half. Hammer nearly made it a nine-point game at the break with a half-court shot, but it hit the rim at the buzzer.
Coming out of the half, Hopkins put together a quick 8-0 run to cut the deficit to just four with 17:27 to go. Williams scored the first six points of the half and Hammer capped the run with a bucket in the paint. The teams went back-and-forth as the lead see-sawed from four to nine and back to four at the 13:45-mark.
James Livingston hit a pair of free throws and Brandin Youngblood drained a three-pointer and the lead was once again nine. Billups and sophomore Matt Chiusano sandwiched baskets around a three from AJ Tilghman to make it a 64-56 game. Wesley once again answered, pushing its lead back to 12 but Hopkins came right back to make it a seven-point game with 8:44 on the clock. The Wolverines turned up the offense after Bugarinovic layup as they outscored the Jays 12-2 in a two-minute span to push their lead to 17. Wesley would lead by as much as 20 over the final four minutes before a late Hopkins' run accounted for the 90-76 final.
It was a back-and-forth battle in the game's first 14 minutes as neither team could take more than a four-point lead, before Wesley made its late run to end the half.
Bugarinovic led the Blue Jays with 17 points, going 8-of-11 from the floor, while grabbing three boards and handing out four assists. Hammer, despite suffering from flu-like symptoms, finished with 14 points, three rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes. Williams also finished in double figures with 12 points. Sophomore Austin Vasiliadis handed out a career-high seven assists and also grabbed two steals. Langan scored a game-high 26 points, going 11-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the line to go with nine rebounds. Langan's field goal percentage (1.000) was a tournament record. Pettiford, who joined Langan on the all-tournament team, and Livingston each poured in 19 points while Wayne Lennon pulled a game-high 11 rebounds. Livingston also tied the tournament record for free throw percentage, going a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, November 20 as the Blue Jays travel to Reading, PA to take on 2013 NCAA Tournament participant Alvernia. Tip-off at the Alvernia Physcial Education Center is set for 8:00 pm.