The Hopkins men’s basketball team finished up their regular season with games against the Washington College Shoremen and the Haverford College Fords, the two bottom teams in the Centennial Conference.
The two teams entered the week 3-13 and 2-14 respectively in Conference play, so it seemed like it would be an easy week for the Blue Jays.
In the first game, Hopkins took care of the Shoremen handily, winning 84-65, led by their defense, which held the Shoremen to 36.7 percent from the field and 20 percent from the three-point line.
On offense they were led by graduate forward Sam Gordon, who recorded his fifth double-double of the year, scoring 13 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Michael Gardner set a career high, scoring 20 points on 8-10 shooting from the field.
The trouble came in the Jays’ second game of the week against the Haverford College Fords. It was senior night for Hopkins, since it was their last regular season home game. Hopkins was hoping to send their senior class out with a bang, but Haverford came out to play and ruined the night for the Hopkins senior class.
The Hopkins starting lineup full of seniors started out strong, jumping out to a quick 10-4 lead, but Haverford would battle back, responding with a 9-0 run to go up 13-10 six minutes into the first half. The teams stayed close for the rest of the half, as neither team was able to grab momentum, and the half ended with the score level at 41 apiece.
The second half was more of the same, as the biggest lead for either team was four points. In the end, the Fords rode the back of freshman forward Jonathan Lang, who came into the game averaging only seven points per game.
He ended the game with a career high 25 points on 10-13 shooting, including 4-6 shooting from three. His three-pointer with one minute left put Haverford up by four and would eventually be the winning shot.
Hopkins would eventually lose the game 80-78 after Gardner missed a potential game-tying shot with one second left. Despite that miss, Gardner scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
He was helped by junior forward Kyle Doran, who scored 20 points of his own and senior forward Ryan Curran, who had 15 points and 6 rebounds. One of the biggest deficiencies for the Jays was shooting from the free throw line, where they shot 40.9 percent as a team.
“Haverford came in with nothing to lose and shot the lights out,” Curran said. “Their penetration hurt us, which led to kick-outs for open shots.”
In addition to Lang, the Fords got 21 points from sophomore guard Kahlil Garnes, and as a team shot 50 percent from the field.
As result of the loss, the Blue Jays were pushed down to the fourth seed in the Centennial Conference tournament. This means that they play the fifth seeded Ursinus College Bears at home on Wednesday.
In the two previous matchups of the two teams, the Blue Jays won both, but only by a combined total of five points.
“It’s all going to come down to execution and getting the ball to the right guy at the right time,” Gardner said.
If Hopkins can win that game, they will move on to face Swarthmore, a team the Blue Jays beat by 12 at home but lost to by 22 when they played on the road. The game at Swarthmore was closer than the score indicated, as Swarthmore went on a 20 point run in the second half to take control of the game.
“At this point it’s all about locking in and focusing on one game at a time.” Curran said. “We can’t look down the road or worry about anything else.”
Even though the Blue Jays ended their regular season on a sour note, they can turn it all around with a strong showing in the playoffs.
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