(Carlisle, Pa.) – The Dickinson men's basketball team had solid play from the entire bench as they overcame a tough first half to finish strong and overtake visiting Johns Hopkins, 61-57, on Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Jays were tied for first, entering the game but slip into a second place tie in the Centennial Conference at 10-4. The Red Devils and Franklin & Marshall are next with conference marks of 9-5.
A low scoring start saw Hopkins take a 9-7 lead on a three-pointer from Ryan Curran at the 13:29 mark. The Blue Jays stretched margin to eight before Moses Romocki (Creedmoor, N.C./Cardinal Gibbons) hit a jumper and Bryce Allen (Albany, N.Y./The Hill School) cut the lead to four with a pair of free throws.
Hopkins pulled in front by 10 as Michael Gardner sandwiched a jumper and a pair of free throws around a score from Kyle Doran, with 3:54 remaining in the first half.
Elijah Wright (Orange, N.J./The Pennington School) answered with a three-point play but Gardner and Doran would stretch the margin back to 11. Allen hit the final shot of the half to cut it to nine at the break.
The Red Devils trailed by 10 at the 15-minute mark of the second half, and that's when they started to make a run. Mike Hinckley (Bryn Mawr, Pa./Episcopal Academy) led the charge, capping an 8-1 stretch with a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to three points with 11:58 left to play.
Gardner buried a three-pointer, but sophomore Harrison Brown (Huntington, W. Va./The Miller School) would rise to the challenge as Dickinson pulled in front. Brown scored twice, around a Wright three-pointer to five the Devils a 44-43 advantage with 9:21 remaining in the game.
Jule Brown (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) added a three-point play and later fed the other Brown in the corner for a triple to put the Devils up, 50-45. Justus Melton (Charlotte, N.C./Covenant Day) came on strong, taking control inside.
An already intense crowd erupted as Allen fed Jule Brown for a rim-rattling dunk and Melton hit a jumper to put Dickinson up by eight with 2:36 left to play.
Hopkins kept battling to the final buzzer but Allen would close out the game with two strong drives to the basket, leading the Red Devils to the finish.
Doran led the Blue Jays with 13 points and 10 rebounds as they fall to 14-7 overall and 10-4 in the conference.
Wright led the Red Devils with 12 points, three steals and a pair of rebounds. Melton scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, adding six rebounds while Allen finished with eight points and five rebounds. Hinckley scored eight points while each Brown tallied seven.
The Red Devils improve to 12-9 overall and 9-5 in the conference. They travel to Gettysburg College on Wednesday night for an 8:00 pm tip-off.