BALTIMORE, MD – Seniors George Bugarinovic and Jimmy Hammer combined for 55 points to lead the Johns Hopkins men's basketball team to a 95-78 win over Keene State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Goldfarb Gym Friday night. The Blue Jays tie the school record with 24 wins as they improve to 24-4 overall. The Owls see their season end with a 20-9 record. Hammer and Bugarinovic became the first pair of classmates in school history to each surpass 1,300 career points.
The teams traded blows early as neither team led by more than three in the opening nine minutes and there were a pair of lead changes and one tie. Trailing by three after a Nate Stitchell three with 14:23 to play in the game, sophomore Ryan Curran got a bucket in the paint, followed by a three from junior Gene Williams and Hopkins led 13-11. That Curran bucket sparked a 13-0 Blue Jay run that saw the home team take a 10-point lead at the 9:22-mark. Jeff Lunn and Nate Howard sandwiched jumpers around another triple from Williams and JHU led 24-15 just over 30 seconds later.
Hopkins pushed its lead to 14 thanks in part to eight straight points from Hammer but three times in the ensuing three minutes, Keene State cut it to 11. Senior Omar Randall converted a fast-break layup with 2:15 to play to ignite a quick 9-0 run that saw the Blue Jays' lead swell to 20. Randall bookended the run with a pair of free throws at the 1:07-mark. The Owls would get a bucket from Lunn in the closing seconds of the half to make it a 47-29 game at the break.
Keene State came out on fire to start the second half and trimmed the deficit to 12 on a Lucas Hammel fast-break bucket. Hopkins answered with an 8-2 spurt to push the lead back to 18. The Blue Jays' lead didn't dip below 15 for in the subsequent three minutes. The Owls weren't going away as they turned a trio of Jay turnovers into eight points and cut the deficit to 12 with 10:56 to go.
Hopkins ended Keene State's run and extended the lead back to 17 with six straight free throws. The Owls kept chipping away but could get no closer than 12 in the final nine minutes. The Jays would lead by as many as 19 before winning by 17. JHU did most of its damage from the free throw line in the second half, going 34-of-38 from the stripe in the half.
Hammer finished with a game and season-high 29 points, the second most by a Blue Jay in an NCAA Tournament game. He also broke the school record for free throws made (13) and attempted (15) an NCAA Tournament game. Bugarinovic finished with a career-high-tying 26 points, going 7-of-9 from the field and 12-of-14 from the line. He also grabbed a game-high 12 boards as Hopkins outrebounded Keene State, 47-24. Randall added a career-best 13 points and eight rebounds. Hopkins also set school tournament records for points (95), free throws (43), free throw attempts (49), rebounds (47) and blocks (9). Tom Doyle and Stitchell led the Owls with 15 points apiece while Lunn had a team-high six rebounds.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, March 7 against Skidmore in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Tip-off at Goldfarb Gym is slated for 7:00 pm.