Men’s basketball competed in two Centennial Conference affairs this past week, the first of which was Saturday afternoon against the Ursinus Bears, and the second coming Wednesday night at Franklin & Marshall. Both games fell out of favor for the Jays who have struggled mightily this season, their record now falling to 6-18 overall and 4-13 in the conference.
Against host Ursinus, the Jays looked good early on, keeping the game close the entire first half. In the first 20 minutes of play, the largest lead of the game had been just a measly five-point advantage for Hopkins.
Sophomore guard Mike Rhoads was a catalyst to start the game, as he scored 11 in the first stanza and Hopkins’s first seven points. Senior forward Jon Alberici led the Jays with 12 points in the game, and freshman Daniel Corbett chipped in seven points of his own. Junior Tim McCarty had a terrific game, posting a career-high four steals in the contest.
On the other side, the Bears were carried by the exceptional play of 6-foot-10-inch sophomore forward Jon Ward who scored 31, 15 of which came from the free throw line. After the game, Ward would be named the Centennial Conference’s co-player of the week.
Tied at 30 with just under a minute to play in the second half following a self-tip in by sophomore forward Sean Wildes, Ursinus took control of the game’s momentum by way of a buzzer beating long-range jump shot by senior guard Matt Hilton to give the Bears a 33-30 lead at intermission.
The game quickly fell out of reach for the Jays with the start of the second half.
Led by Ward and freshman point guard Jesse Krasna, the Bears scored the first ten points of the half, and would eventually extend their lead to as much as 20 points.
Hopkins struggled on defense in the second half, particularly in the paint where they were outscored 22-12. They also had a tough time from behind the arch, shooting just two for 16 from deep.
In most other facets, however, the game was evenly played, proving that maybe the score did not tell the entire story of the game. Both the Jays and Ursinus scored 12 points off turnovers in the game, and Hopkins’s bench outscored the Bears’s 19-13.
The final score of the game was 71-55.
The Jays hoped to put the loss behind them when matching up with the first-place and 21st-ranked Diplomats Wednesday evening. However, Franklin & Marshall dominated Hopkins earlier this season, taking down the Jays 86-55 in Baltimore, so the game would be far from easy.
From the get-go, turnovers were the name of the game as the Diplomats took advantage of Jay mistakes to get out to an 11 point lead at halftime.
Similar to their meeting in January, the game was close about 10 minutes into the game, changing leads four times. Leading 13-12, the Jays turned the ball over twice to give the Diplomats enough momentum to surge out to a 10 point lead within three minutes.
The second half was much better for the Jays, led by seven quick points by McCarty and back-to-back layups by Alberici to pull Hopkins within seven of Franklin & Marshall.
Thanks to great play by Diplomats Georgio Milligan, 21 points, Mike Baker, 14 points and Hayk Gyokchyan, 12 points, Franklin & Marshall extended their lead back to twelve soon where it would stay for the remainder of the game. Hopkins fell 72-60.
The Jays were led by Alberici and McCarty who chipped in 14 and nine points apiece, respectively. They both led the team in rebounds, along with Connor McIntyre, with four.
Hopkins beat the Diplomats in most significant statistical categories, including three-point and free-throw percentages, 40 and 76.2 percent respectively, but the Diplomats had just nine turnovers compared to the Jays 17, although in the second half the turnover comparison was much better, 6 to 7.
The Jays will try to close out their season on a high note this Saturday at home, senior day, against conference rival Washington College at 1 p.m.
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