Strong finish for men’s basketball

In the final game of the regular season the men’s basketball team hosted Washington College Saturday afternoon at Goldfarb Gymnasium. The Blue Jays downed the Shoremen 74-64, closing out the season 7-18 overall and 5-13 in the Centennial Conference.

The Jays jump-started the game and established an early 4-0 lead. Hopkins held the lead until just 10 minutes were left in the first half, when the Shoremen tied the game at 13.

The lead changed sides twice before the end of the half, but shortly before the teams headed to their locker rooms, Hopkins sparked a ten-point run to conclude the half with a seven-point lead.

Senior John Alberici had his way with Washington College and led the offensive attack. Alberici’s 12 first half points came as no surprise; he was playing his last game as a Jay and wanted to leave his mark. Alberici did not hesitate to get his teammates involved in the mix, dishing off multiple assists while running up and down the floor.

He also showed off an array of post moves, missing only two shots and shooting an impressive 12-14 from the field.

Adding 17 second half points to his total, Alberici proved he was too much for the Shoremen to handle; he finished the game with a career high in points and assists, compiling 29 points and 12 assists.

Head Coach Bill Nelson commented on his seniors’ final game, “It was nice to see John Alberici get career highs in points scored and rebounds in his last game.

Going 12-14 from the field vaulted him up to [18th] for career field goal percentage. Mike Henrici, who missed the majority of the last third of the season with a painful foot injury ended up [second] career-wise for free throw percentage.”

Nelson also added that the seniors deserve a ton of credit despite the season not going according to plan.

“We all will miss the seniors a great deal. They are quality young men both on and off the court. We all were disappointed in our final record and it was especially tough on the seniors. But they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for holding this team together. We actually got better during the final quarter of the season and John and Mike had a lot to do with it.”

Washington entered the second half with a higher intensity level, bringing the game to a close with two points before finally taking the lead.

Alberici sunk a free throw to retake the lead 48-47 with 11 minutes to go in the half. After grabbing the lead Hopkins would not look back, lighting up the field and extending the lead until time expired.

The decisive point of the game occurred with seven minutes left, Hopkins leading by just four points. The Jays scored eight consecutive points to lead 67-55 with only three minutes to play.

Hitting shots from around the field, the Jays were not limited by a poor shooting effort; the team shot an astounding 52 percent from the field in the second half, compared to a 37.5 field goal percentage from Washington.

Hopkins sophomore Adam Spengler had a strong performance from the free throw line to close out the game. He tallied 12 points on the day along with four assists and three steals. Freshman Daniel Corbett continued his impressive play, adding seven boards and six assists in the win.

Nelson was proud of the way his young players performed throughout the season.

“Many of our sophomores and freshmen were thrown to the wolves and some responded especially well. Adam Spengler more than doubled his freshman offensive statistics and Daniel Corbett and Connor McIntyre were both starting and showing tremendous improvement as the season came to an end,”he said.

When recalling the bright spots of the season, Nelson replied “We had some real gut victories this year. The most memorable was versus Messiah where we were down nine points with 71 seconds to go. We tied them in regulation and beat them in overtime. We also had nice wins over playoff-bound McDaniel and Gettysburg in February.”

The Jays know they must build off this season to be successful in the future.

“Without a doubt, we must improve in three areas. Offensively we were dead last in most categories in the conference. We must improve our post defense. Our perimeter defense became much stronger as the year went on but we never improved much in the post. Finally, we had too many turnovers against the best teams in the conference,”Nelson said.

Overall the team seems eager looking forward to next year. Two seniors are graduating, leaving behind a confident nucleus of players who can mesh together.

Nelson concluded by saying, “When you are 7-18, things need to change. We can’t stay the same or else we will get the same results.”