BALTIMORE – The Rosemont men's basketball team had an up-and-down effort today at Johns-Hopkins University, where the Ravens faced the Tigers of Hampden-Sydney College in the first game of the 25th Annual Blue Jay Invitational Tournament. A last-second shot by the Tigers' Mike Murray was the deciding bucket, as his shot from beyond the top part of the arc broke a tie to give Hampden-Sydney the 65-62 win. With the result the Ravens fall to 5-5 on the season, while the Tigers moved to 8-2 overall.
The Ravens kept close with Hampden-Sydney over the first half, several times gaining a small edge on the scoreboard, but Rosemont trailed for most of the first half, with Rosemont behind by six points at the half, 34-28.
Rosemont came out hot to start the second half, outscoring the Tigers 21-6 to grab what was their largest lead of the game, nine points, leading 49-40 about midway through the half. The Ravens suddenly went cold from that point, as the Tigers rallied to outscore the Ravens 14-1 over the next 6 ½ minutes to grab a 54-50 lead with 3:43 left in the game.
Back-to-back field goals from Marcus Thomas, including a clutch trey put the Ravens back on top, 55-54 with 2:15 left, but Hampden-Sydney answered with two free throws to regain the lead, 56-55 with just under two minutes remaining. The Ravens again claimed a slim lead, 57-56 on a timely layup from Kyle Lafferty with 1:42 on the clock, and after a Tiger free throw the game was knotted at 57 with 1 ½ minutes left.
A baseline three-ball from Jamier Hughes hit nothing but net, and the Ravens re-took a three-point lead, 60-57 with 1:18 remaining. The Tigers answered with back-to-back baskets, the second resulting in a three-point play to retake the lead, 62-60 with 16 seconds left. Jamier Hughes made a nifty inside move among Hampden-Sydney's post players to tie the game with a layup with 6.1 seconds remaining on the clock, and the Ravens would need a stop to send the game into overtime. But the Tigers had other plans, feeding Murray with the final bucket of the afternoon to seal the deal as the buzzer sounded.
After a slow start in the first half, Marcus Thomas ended up as Rosemont's top scorer with 16 points, Jamier Hughes netted 13 while Clayton Wolfe and Kyle Lafferty each scored 10 for the Ravens. Hughes earned a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Hampden-Sydney's Andrew Evans scored 16 to lead both squads. His teammates Josh Katowitz and Guilherme Guimaraes each scored 11 for the Tigers.
The Ravens outshot Hampden-Sydney 42.6% to 36.5% from the field, but shot only 50% at the charity stripe (11 for 22).
The Ravens return to the Johns Hopkins court tomorrow afternoon to face either Johns Hopkins or Framingham State. Check tomorrow's schedules at the Rosemont Athletics web site (rosemont-ravens.com) or on Facebook or Twitter.