The month of January has been kind to the Hopkins men’s basketball program. After starting off the season 5-5, the Blue Jays have turned the corner in 2013. Not only has Hopkins gone 7-2 since the first of the month but, more importantly, the Jays have won three straight games against conference foes since their heart-wrenching double overtime loss against Franklin & Marshall on January 16.
Sophomore standout guard, Jimmy Hammer, pointed to the OT loss as one of the key turning points in this young season. “We realized that we could play with the top teams in the league,” Hammer said. “The loss also motivated us even more to start winning some games because our goal is to make it to the conference tournament, and then hopefully the NCAA tournament.”
Last Wednesday the Hopkins men’s basketball team rode a 30-5 second half run to put away the host Washington College Shoremen 63-49 in Centennial Conference action. The scoring run began with the Jays trailing by 12 early in the second half. The run ended twelve minutes later and put the Jays up for good.
Hopkins Junior Connor McIntyre had a career day posting his first double double, going 6 for 8 from the field and adding 13 rebounds. Senior Adam Spengler paced the Jays with 15 points while distributing five dimes of his own. Rounding out Hopkins’ scorers in double figures was Hammer who added 11 points of his own while adding seven rebounds.
After the game Hammer added, “I think we have been playing really well as a team. We are moving the ball well, playing great team defense, rebounding much better, and limiting our turnovers. These are all things we have been focusing on in practice and obviously, it has been working.”
Three days later Hopkins would add another all important conference victory with a tight 63-59 win over host Muhlenberg on Saturday afternoon. The victory improved the Jays’ record to 12-7 overall and 8-4 in the conference.
The game saw two underclassman, Hammer and classmate George Bugarinovic, lead the way for the Jays. Hammer finished with a game-high 18 points while Bugarinovic added 12 points of his own while grabbing 12 rebounds.
When asked to point to a specific reason why the Hopkins basketball program has had such a successful month Bugarinovic pointed to the teams overall depth. “Our depth has been key for us in many games this season, especially over our last three games,” Bugarinovic said. “Each game, a different player has stepped up and provided a boost off the bench in one way or another. Whether it be because of injury or foul trouble, someone has always been ready to step in and contribute.”
Another key factor to the victory was stingy defense. Mules star guard Malique Killing was averaging 21.2 PPG on the season. Prior to the matchup, Killing owned a five game streak of scoring 20 or more points. The Blue Jays strong team defense limited this offensive threat to a mere 11 points in the game.
The Jays will seek to extend their conference win streak to four games as they take on the Gettysburg Bullets at eight p.m. this Thursday.
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