M. basketball pulls a victory in final seconds

While our mascot, the blue jay, is not usually classified as a tenacious animal, the Hopkins Blue Jays (13-8, 9-5) played with the tenacity of pit bulls on Saturday as they defeated the Haverford Fords (5-15, 3-11) 64-63 in overtime. The Jays refused to quit in a game which saw 18 lead changes and 14 ties, culminating in overtime with junior Scott Weisenfeld's game winning jump shot with four seconds remaining.

For the Jays, who only have four games left this season, this was a crucial game in the Centennial Conference standings. Hopkins faced Haverford at home earlier in the season, handily winning 65-51, but knew that on the road things would be slightly more difficult.

"Last year they played us here at Hopkins in the Centennial Conference tournament and we beat them in a close game and they only lost one key player. They're a dangerous team with a record that doesn't indicate that," head coach Bill Nelson said. "They came out and it was a battle."

Hopkins led the entire game the first time these two teams played, but in this back and forth affair, that was certainly not the case. Neither team led by more than four until 15 minutes through the first half, when Haverford took a 25-20 lead on a three pointer by Matt Palmer. But Hopkins refused to go down lightly and, showing its tenacity after a timeout by Coach Nelson, tore open an 11-6 run to end the half, including five points from sophomore Andrew Farber-Miller, who finished with 21 points, and four from fellow sophomore Pat O'Connell. This run tied the score at 31 going into the half, the same number of points Hopkins scored in the first half the first time these two teams met.

After halftime, Hopkins slowly crept out to a six point lead with just under 15 minutes left in the half, going on a 10-4 run which Farber-Miller keyed with six points. But after Haverford took a 42-41 lead with 12 minutes remaining on a Chaz Thomas field goal the score began to waver once again as neither team led by more than three for the next eight minutes.

The scoring for Hopkins dried up at the wrong time, as Hopkins went more than three and a half minutes without scoring toward the end of regulation. The Fords took advantage during that time, going on a five-point scoring run, aided by an offensive put-back on a missed free throw, to take a 55-52 lead with 2:12 remaining. Neither team scored for the next minute and a half, and when Haverford guard Mike Fratangelo turned the ball over with 39 seconds left, Hopkins called a timeout to regroup. It worked, and senior co-captain Doug Polster, the centennial conference leader in three pointers, hit a three pointer with 35 seconds left to tie the game at 55.

"Once I hit the three I knew we were going to win the game," said a confident Polster, who finished the game with 16 points.

However, neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in regulation and the game went into overtime.

The Jays have become adept at playing in overtime games this season. After losing the championship game of the Blue Jay Invitational in overtime, Hopkins reeled off three straight overtime wins.

The five-minute overtime period proceeded very similarly to regulation, with three ties and three lead changes. After a Kamm layup tied the game at 62 with just under a minute left, Haverford had a chance to answer on the other end of the court but Thomas was called for a charge and Hopkins regained possession. With 15 seconds left, Nelson signaled for a timeout and called for an inbounds play underneath the basket.

"The play we set up, we didn't run correctly. But Scott [Weisenfeld] had to get the ball in play because we had no timeouts left," Nelson said.

This led Weisenfeld to attempt to heave the ball toward senior co-captain Kevin Roach at midcourt, but the pass was short and was intercepted by Thomas, who was then fouled. Thomas converted on the first free throw, but missed the second, leaving Hopkins down by one point with 13 seconds to go. Kamm brought the ball up and Weisenfeld was able to break free off of a Farber-Miller screen. Weisenfeld then took a pass from Kamm and curled into the middle of the lane and hit a floater over Haverford's defender, putting Hopkins up by one on a shot Coach Nelson has aptly named a "Weisenfield floater." A last second desperation shot by Haverford was no good, and Hopkins escaped with a victory.

Weisenfeld's teammates were not surprised that the junior, who missed all of last season with an injury would come through.

"With 'Big Shot' Scott banging a huge three against Swarthmore earlier in the season, I knew when the game was on the line, he'd come through," Polster said.

The Haverford game put the team in third place in the Centennial Conference standings. With nationally ranked Ursinus holding a firm grasp on the top spot in the conference and Gettysburg cemented in the number two seed, five teams are competing for the final three spots in the Centennial Conference tournament. Thus, this win was a huge boost for the third place Jays.

"It was huge. It was really big and the problem is it seems like a lot of the other teams that were in contention are winning also," said Coach Nelson, who is also very impressed with the fight his team has been showing. "We've just got to continue to battle and it seems like we're in a lot of very close games. We've been fortunate but I'll give our guys some credit because they just never quit."

This weekend the Jays face Muhlenberg in Allentown, Pa. The last game these two teams played was back on Jan. 16, when the Jays and the Mules battled it out for three overtimes, and the Blue Jays were able to pull out a victory.