HUNTINGDON, PA – Junior Jimmy Hammer led four Blue Jays in double figures with a team-high 19 points as Johns Hopkins defeated Valley Forge Christian, 66-57, in the consolation game of the Juniata Holiday Tournament. The Blue Jays snap a four-game losing streak as they improve to 5-6 overall while the Patriots fall to 6-5.
Hopkins trailed by two early after back-to-back buckets by Nicholas Kline and Lance Harris, but Hammer would give the Blue Jays the lead for good with the first of his five three-pointers on the day at the 15:15-mark of the first half. That bucket from downtown ignited a quick 14-2 run that saw Hopkins build a 10-point lead. Sophomore Niko Kotoulas capped the run at 11:03 with a basket in the paint.
Valley Forge got back within six just over two minutes later and had chipped the deficit down to four with 5:19 to go in the first half. But four straight points from senior Connor McIntyre and a pair of shots from the charity stripe by sophomore Austin Vasiliadis pushed the lead back to nine, 29-20, with 3:37 to play. The teams traded buckets to end the half and Hopkins held a 31-23 lead at the break.
Coming out of the half, Hopkins quickly pushed its lead to 12 with consecutive baskets from McIntyre and sophomore Gene Williams. The Patriots came right back with back-to-back baskets of its own by Kevin Mack and Lance Harris to get the deficit back to single digits. But Hammer would answer by sandwiching a pair of three-pointers around a George Bugarinovic layup and just like that the lead was 16. McIntyre would make it a 17-point game with 15:17 on the clock after making the back end of a pair of free throws.
Twice the Patriots would cut the deficit to 13 points, but both times the Blue Jays answered, eventually pushing their lead to as many as 19, thanks to back-to-back three-point plays by Kotoulas. A pair of three-pointers from Mack would help Valley Forge climb back into it as the Patriots trimmed the deficit to 11 by the 8:33-mark. But Hopkins once again answered, pushing its lead back to 16. VFC wasn't going away however and managed to make it an eight-point game twice in the final four minutes, but Hopkins held off the pesky Patriots and took the win.
Hammer finished with a game-high-tying 19 points and a career-best 11 rebounds for his first career double double. He also swiped a career-high five steals and went 5-of-10 from three-point range. Kotoulas scored a game-high 12 points to go along with a career-high-tying seven boards. Bugarinovic and McIntyre finished with 11 points apiece and Bugarinovic also grabbed seven rebounds. Mack led the Patriots with 19 points while Harris finished with 14.
Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, January 8 versus the Haverford Fords. The Centennial Conference match-up is slated for an 8:00 pm tip at Goldfarb Gym.