The Jays opened this season at home when they hosted the 17th annual Blue Jay Invitational at the Goldfarb Gymnasium. Their first game in the tournament came against the Carnegie Mellon Tartans. The Jays soared out of the gate with an 18-5 run. Hopkins led by as much as 16 in the first half and went into halftime leading 39-32.
The Blue Jay momentum only picked up after halftime. After exchanging buckets, two free throws by sophomore Pat O'Connell started a 10-3 run which would give the Jays a double-digit lead they would not relinquish until nearly 14 minutes later.
Hopkins saw its lead evaporate as the second half came to a close, and the pressure began to mount. Three Carnegie Mellon free throws cut the lead to seven, after which Tartans guard Jack Anderson stole the ball and converted a lay-up to make the score 75-70. Anderson would make it back to the free throw line after a three-point miss by Polster and would sink one of two free throws to cut the lead to four.
The Jays then executed perfectly on their next offensive possession as they ran down the shot clock to two seconds and 6-8 sophomore center Adam Baumgartner threw a pass from the baseline to fellow sophomore Farber-Miller, who turned around and lightly touched the ball off the glass for the lay-up as the shot clock expired.
The last scoring chance for the Tartans failed as senior captain Kevin Roach had a huge block, the only Blue Jay block of the night, on an Anderson lay-up, which was followed by several insurance free throws for the Blue Jays.
The win put the Jays in the finals of the Blue Jay Invitational for the sixth consecutive year, where they faced the Richard Stockton College Ospreys. The first half featured seven ties and five lead changes, but the Jays made a small push at the end of the half capped by a running floater by O'Connell at the buzzer to give Hopkins a 27-25 lead.
The Jays came out aggressively after halftime. Two three -ointers by Polster and another by O'Connell led the team to a 12-1 run to start the half. Hopkins would lead by as many as 12 points, but they would allow their opponent to gradually chip away that margin. Hopkins led 61-53 with just under three minutes remaining. Three RSC free throws cut the lead to five, and after junior Collin Kamm hit one of two free throws, Osprey guard Jerome Hubbard then hit a three-pointer as he was fouled by Kamm, but missed the free throw to keep the Blue Jay lead at three. Polster hit two more free throws to bring the lead to five, but RSC answered right back with a three-pointer by Santini Lancioni to cut the lead to two. After a Hopkins turnover, the Ospreys had one more chance to take the lead, but Kamm had a heads-up steal with 15 seconds left and was immediately fouled. He hit only one of two free throws, which proved to be costly when the Ospreys hurried down the court to set up another three pointer by Hubbard to tie the game with six seconds left. A missed three by Polster at the buzzer ended regulation play. Hopkins never led in overtime and ended up coming in second place in the tournament, falling by a final score of 78-74.
"They hit some unbelievable threes and we were 2-4 from the foul line and that just killed us," Head Coach Bill Nelson said.
"They're both passionate and very competitive," Coach Nelson said of Polster and O'Connell. "Sometimes their shooting stats are down, and they need to have a little more patience - especially with our inexperience up front. But I couldn't ask for two better leaders. They are keys to this team and show a lot of maturity."
The second tournament in which the Jays participated was the Provident Bank Pride of Maryland Tournament. The Blue Jays had a tough first round test against the Hood College Blazers.
Hopkins jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead on baskets by Baumgartner and Polster, but the Blazers quickly took charge and went on a 7-0 run before a three-pointer by junior Phil Beggans ended a two-minute scoring drought for both teams. Hopkins and Hood traded baskets up until the score was tied at 17 with just under five minutes left in the half. Neither team scored again until Andrew Farber-Miller scored on a jumper with 1:49 left in the half. Hopkins went into halftime down 21-20.
Hood's Jesse Gutekunst started off the scoring in the second half with a three from the corner, which was countered by a basket from Baumgartner. But Hood would go on a 15-5 run until another three-pointer by Beggans cut the lead down to seven. The teams would trade free throws until a lay-up by junior Scott Weisenfeld cut the lead to three. Beggans hit another three to keep the Blue Jays in the game, but in the end Hood downed Hopkins 52-43.
"That was our first road game and we didn't play very well," Nelson said. "But defensively we held them pretty well, especially considering that they were the tournament runner-up."
Hopkins's next game in the tournament came against the Washington College Shoremen. The score remained tied at 2 until the 12:45 mark, and neither team reached double digits until a Beggans three-pointer put the Jays ahead 10-6 with 9:40 to play. The score at halftime was 19-19.
"The main problem in the first half of the Washington College game was our execution," senior co-captain Kevin Roach said. "Our timing was just a bit off and we were taking some ill-advised shots. Coach told us to settle down and go back to our bread and butter of going inside."
The Jays heeded this advice. A put-back lay-up by freshman center John Alberici 26 seconds into the half was followed by back-to-back three pointers from O'Connell and Polster, which spurred Hopkins on a run which would leave them with a 34-21 lead. The Blue Jay lead would balloon to as much as 19 points midway through the second half, strongly aided by Alberici, who scored 14 of his career high 17 points in the second half.
"It was a great feeling to make a big contribution for that game," Alberici said. "I think it was another step in the right direction for me. When I caught the ball in the post, I wanted to set everything up to get off my jump hook. Once one or two fell, I didn't really think about changing my approach after that point. The ball just felt good coming off my hand at the time and everyone was clicking with Phil and Doug making big three-pointers during the run."
A late Washington College rally would chip away at the lead, bringing it down to as few as seven points, but seven points by Beggans in a 78-second span would bring the lead back to 14, and the Hopkins "basketball train" pulled away from Washington, winning with a final score of 69-52.
Hopkins played in the fifth-place game of the tournament against the Villa Julie College Mustangs.
The Jays were paced by Farber-Miller, who scored seven first-half points in his first career start.
"It did feel good to start against Villa Julie," Farber-Miller said. "When you get into the game you get an adrenaline rush and want to do things at a million miles per hour. It is just a matter of keeping your composure and doing work, and doing what you do best."
The Blue Jays led until around the two-minute mark in the second half. The Mustangs tied the game at 54 with 2:21 left on back-to-back lay-ups. A lay-up by Polster with 90 seconds left put the Jays up by two, but the Mustangs came right back with a jumper of their own to tie the game at 56 and send it into overtime.
In the extra session, Villa Julie jumped out to a quick lead and led 61-60 with 2:34 remaining, but that would be their last lead of the game. O'Connell took a 60 foot breakaway pass from Kamm off of a missed three-pointer and converted the layup to tie the game. Polster would score again on a layup and a desperation three by Villa Julie guard Mike Turner was off the mark as Hopkins claimed fifth place in the tournament.
"Against Villa Julie I just happened to be open a couple of times, and am happy that I was able to do my job and help the team win," Roach said.
Coach Nelson knows that the true test will come when league play begins this week. "Right now we're looking for consistency. We're up and down right now because we have a lot of new faces," Nelson said. "But I'm really happy with these guys and we have a good group. We will find out a lot about ourselves in the next 12 days and we start league play."
Hopkins plays Swarthmore College on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. at the Goldfarb Gymnasium.
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