The Hopkins men's basketball team lost to St. Mary's 73-66 on Tuesday in the first round of the annual Pride of Maryland Championship tournament.
Head coach Bill Nelson startted two seniors, Mike Henrici and John Alberici for the season opener. Nelson also gave the start to junior Tim McCarty and two sophomores: Mike Rhoads and Adam Spengler.
McCarty, the six-foot-one guard, tallied his first career double-double with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. McCarty was 4-7 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc. He played 32 of 40 minutes and seven of his rebounds were on the defensive side of the court. McCarty was also an impressive 10-12 from the foul line.
Sophomore guard Adam Spengler added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Matt Kelly was strong off the bench with nine points and three rebounds.
Six foot ten freshman center Aleksandar Nikolic played just over half the game and added six rebounds and six points.
Hopkins kept the game close against St. Mary's who was ranked eleventh in Division III. At the half, Hopkins trailed by only three points, 37-34. And with just over seven minutes remaining the Blue Jays trailed by only one point.
Hopkins out shot St. Mary's from beyond the arc and on the foul line. But the Jays were 20-47 from the field; St. Mary's was 27-55.
St. Mary's went on a late 9-2 scoring run before Hopkins was able to score the game down with a few trips to the line. The Jays were only down by four with 16 seconds remaining but Nelson was forced to order his players to stop the clock with fouls which allowed St. Mary's to end the game up a deceptive seven points.
The game was the season opener for St. Mary's and Hopkins kept it close for most of the game. The first half was especially back and forth. McCarty drained a three and sophomore sean Wildes added four to tie the game at 15.
Wildes played nine minutes and was 3-4 from the field.
The loss puts Hopkins in the consolation bracket of the Pride of Maryland Championship tournament. The Blue Jays will face Goucher College on Friday at 4:15 pm at Stevenson University.
Hopkins begins Centennial Conference action next Tuesday at Haverford.
