BALTIMORE, MD – Gettysburg held off a late Johns Hopkins' rally on Tuesday night to defeat the host Blue Jays, 70-65, in Centennial Conference action at Goldfarb Gym. The Blue Jays drop their second straight as they fall to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the CC. The Bullets improve to 2-4 overall while grabbing their first conference win of the season.
Trailing by 13 with 10:19 to play in the game, Hopkins got free throws from sophomore Niko Kotoulas and junior George Bugarinovic to made it a 10-point game and kick-start a 12-2 run. Williams cut the deficit to single digits at the 7:43-mark with a three-pointer followed by a fast-break layup by Bugarinovic. Connor Poston two points back for the Bullets with a pair of shots from the free throw line. But sophomore Austin Vasiliadis answered with two charity shots of his. Bugarinovic then capped the run with a bucket in the paint and the Jays trailed 62-59 with 4:58 to play.
Poston quickly pushed the lead back to seven with back-to-back layups and it was a 66-59 game. Hopkins came right back with a 6-1 burst, capped by a pull-up 19-foot jumper by Vasiliadis as the clocked ticked under a minute. The Blue Jays forced a turnover on the ensuing Bullets' possession, but gave the ball right back. Hopkins was then forced to foul, trailing by two with 33 seconds to play. Sango Amolo missed the front-end of a one-and-one and junior Jimmy Hammer controlled the board, but the Blue Jays couldn't convert on the offensive end.
Once again, the Jays fouled, sending Sean Gordon to the line. He missed the first, but made the second to push the lead to three with 15 ticks on the clock. On the subsequent possession, Vasiliadis took a three from the top of the key, but it missed the mark and Poston grabbed the rebound. Cody Kiefer was then fouled and sank both of his shots from the line to seal the game.
It was back-and-forth early as the lead changed hands six times in the first seven minutes. Gettysburg took the lead for good on a Kiefer three-pointer, one of his four on the night, at 11:53 in the first. Kotoulas cut the lead back to one with a pair of free throws, but Amolo answered with one from the line on the other end to ignite an 11-1 Bullets' run. Joe Emerusabe punctuated the run with a three-pointer at the 7:29 mark.
Hopkins answered with a 10-4 run of its own to make it a four-point game with 5:09 to go in the half, but Kiefer hit again from downtown to push the lead right back to seven. The Blue Jays twice cut the deficit back to four in the closing minutes of the half, but a fast-break dunk by Kiefer but a punctuation mark on the half for Gettysburg as the Bullets took a 42-34 lead at the break.
Gettysburg came out strong to start the second half, pushing its lead to as many as 14 in the opening eight minutes. Kirkpatrick, Poston and Kiefer combined for 14 of the Bullets' first 16 points of the half while Poston also did damage on the glass as he corralled five rebounds during the first five minutes of the half. After allowing 60 points in the game's first 30 minutes, Hopkins held Gettysburg to just 10 points in the final 10 minutes, but the deficit proved to be too much.
Bugarinovic led the Blue Jays for the fourth straight game with 16 points, and just missed a double-double as he grabbed a team-high nine boards. Sophomore Gene Williams added 12 and classmate Matt Billups finished with a career-high 11 points, while also blocking three shots. Kiefer led the Bullets with a game-high 22 points, 16 of those coming in the first half. Poston finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 17 boards. That is the most rebounds by a Blue Jay opponent since November 20, 2007. Kirkpatrick also finished in double figures with 15 points.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, December 7 as the Blue Jays travel to Allentown, PA to take on the Muhlenberg Mules. Tip-off from Memorial Gym is slated for 2:00 pm in the Blue Jays' final game of 2013.