The Hopkins men's basketball team wrapped up a successful conference season with a Centennial Conference Championship last weekend in Baltimore.
The Blue Jays knocked off Gettysburg in the semifinals and Haverford in the finals to clinch a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Blue Jays received the number one seed in the tournament, playing against Gettysburg last Saturday. The Bullets played the Blue Jays close for a while, but Hopkins was able to pull away 80-73.
Senior forward Dan Nawrocki led the way for the Blue Jays, tallying his 35th career double-double. The senior forward finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Fellow senior Matt Griffin had 15 points, and senior guard T.J. Valerio had 14 points.
The Blue Jays trailed early in the game, but used a run at the end of the first half to lead 35-27 at intermission. Hopkins came out quickly in the second half, using a 7-0 spurt to open up a 15-point lead over the Bullets.
Gettysburg used a few runs and some solid three-point shooting to close the gap to as few as six points in the waning minutes, but the Blue Jays experience and inside play proved to be too much for the Bullets to handle.
"Some people say we used our inside play to win," Valerio said. "But for us, we actually looked to a turning point a little earlier in the season. Our last few games, we'd have our freshman bring a pound of roast beef and we'd each eat some roast beef before the game. Call it weird or whatever but it seems to work, so why should we change it?"
Oddities, like the superstitious consumption of large chunks of meat, were all around during the Blue Jays' season, including an alarming away loss to Gettysburg earlier this year. However, they were able to avenge their defeat. In the finals, he Blue Jays had a chance to get revenge against Haverford after dropping a mid-season game to the Fords.
The Blue Jays came out strong, playing in front of a passionate and loud Goldfarb Gymnasium. The Fords took an early lead in the game, but the Blue Jays stormed back, taking a lead that they would only relinquish once the rest of the game, eventually winning 68-61.
Doug Polster hit a huge three for the Blue Jays, taking back the lead after Haverford had drained a three of their own. This shot silenced the Haverford crowd, and pumped up the Blue Jay faithful.
Matt Griffin led the Blue Jays with 18 points, shooting a flawless 6-6 from the field. Nawrocki added yet again another double-double, with 15 rebounds and 10 points. Valerio was solid from the free-throw line down the stretch and eventually netted 17 points.
We're ready to dance," Nawrocki said. "We had a calm, collected celebration on Sunday night because we know we have to be ready for Villa Julie on Friday."
For the Jays, this marks their ninth appearance in the NCAA D-III tournament, the first since 1999. Hopkins will host both the first round and second round games this weekend at the Goldfarb Gymnasium. They play Villa Julie on Friday. Should they win, they will face-off against the winner of Manhattanville and Guilford.
"We play much better with a big crowd there," head coach Bill Nelson said. "We really need everyone to come out and support our team."
It won't be an easy road for the Blue Jays as Villa Julie has a 6'7 transferred from Penn State, while Guilford also presents a potential match-up problem with a 6'11 center. Needless to say, height will certainly be a factor during competition this weekend.
