Shoremen Rally to Top Hopkins, 72-69, and Garner Third Seed

BALTIMORE, MD – Senior guard/forward Andrew Chambers (Williamsport, MD/St. Maria Goretti) scored a game-high 26 points, including the game-winning three pointer with eighth-tenths of a second left and on the day where he also scored his 1,000th career point, as visiting Washington College topped host Johns Hopkins, 72-69, on Saturday afternoon at Goldfarb Gymnasium. With the victory, the Shoremen earned the third seed and will play second seeded Gettysburg on Saturday, February 27, at the Mayser Center on the campus of Franklin & Marshall. The top three seeds in the conference tournament get a bye into the semifinal round.

Danny Gergen would give Johns Hopkins (12-13 overall, 8-10 Centennial) a 61-52 with 8:39 left in the game on a jumper, but Washington (13-9 overall, 11-7 Centennial) cut it to six points at 61-55 on a three-point hoop by sophomore guard Sal Schittino (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) with 5:37 left in the contest. Sophomore forward Chris Olsen (Ellicott City, MD/Mount St. Joseph) and Schittino would hit back-to-back jumpers in a 13-second span to cut the Blue Jays lead to 61-59 with 4:34 left in the second half. Between the makes, senior guard Scott Hampton (Colts Neck, NJ/Colts Neck) stole the ball from Hopkins. After a Blue Jays miss, Olsen hit two free throws to level the game at 61-61 with 4:00 to go. Adam Spengler gave Hopkins the lead back at 63-61 with 3:44 left, but Breslin answered with a make of his own to level the game at 63-63 just 20 seconds later. Following a Hopkins miss, Schittino drained a three to give the Shoremen a 66-63 left with 2:50 left forcing a timeout by the Blue Jays. The Schittino shot gave Washington its first lead of the afternoon.

O'Connell would score on a traditional three-point play with 1:51 left to tie the game at 66-66 and the hosts would regain the lead when Tim McCarty hit one-of-two free throws to put the Blue Jays up 67-66 with 1:31 remaining. An offensive foul by Hopkins with 51 seconds left gave the ball back to Washington and with 22 ticks left on the clock, Chambers hit a trifecta to put the Shoremen up 69-67. Mike Henrici evened the contest at 69-69 with nine seconds left, but Chambers capped off his 26 point day when he leaned in and drained the game-winning three with less than a second to go to give WC the 72-69 victory. The senior scored 18 of his points in the second half when Washington outscored Hopkins, 43-26.

In the first half with the score tied at 9-9, the Blue Jays' Spengler canned a three-pointer to give the hosts a 12-9 lead with 13:21 left and would spark an 8-2 run that put Hopkins up 17-11 with 11:43 left in the first on a Henrici jumper. WC would cut the deficit to 23-21 on a layup by Chambers with 8:47 to go in the opening 20 minutes, but the Blue Jays would close the half on a 20-8 run to take a 43-29 lead at halftime. During the run, where Hopkins pushed the lead to 14 points on two occasions, the Blue Jays scored 10 unanswered points to take a 33-21 lead with 4:46 left in the half on a Gergen trifecta.

In the opening 20 minutes, Hopkins shot 55% from the floor and drained four three-pointers in five tries, while holding the Shoremen to 44% from the floor. The hosts also owned a commanding 20-10 edge on the boards.

Henrici opened the scoring in the second with a bucket to extend the Blue Jays' lead to 45-29, their largest of the game. Washington would counter with a 11-3 run to trim the lead to 48-40 with 15:48 to go in the contest on a make by Olsen . Hopkins would push the lead back to 12 points at 54-42 with 12:38 to go on a free throw by Sean O'Connor. WC would cut it to 57-50 with 9:39 left on a three-pointer by Chambers, which made him the 34th player in the history of the program to score 1,000 points. The make gave him 1,001 career points.

Chambers also had the team-high in rebounds with six to go with his 26 points for the Shoremen. He was 11-for-16 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and now has 1,011 points for his career. Sophomore guard/forward Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti) added 21 points, with 17 of them coming in the first half. Hampton dished out six assists to lead the Shoremen. WC shot 48% from the floor, 50% from three-point range (9-for-18) and 78% from the charity stripe. The Shoremen turned 18 Hopkins' turnovers into 24 points.

Andrew Farber-Miller scored a team-high 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting for the Blue Jays, but only four them came after halftime. Pat O'Connell had 12 points and handed out a game-high nine assists for the hosts. McCarty totaled nine rebounds to lead all players as Hopkins edged WC on the boards by a 34-28 tally. Hopkins shot 49% from the field, 56% from three-point land (5-for-9) and 71% at the line. The Blue Jays forced 13 turnovers by the Shoremen, but could only muster 10 points off of the miscues.

Washington, who had lost 18 straight meetings at Goldfarb Gym from the 1988-89 to 2007-08 seasons, have now won two straight at Goldfarb. The Shoremen have now won four in a row over the Blue Jays.

The Shoremen and Bullets will play next Saturday in Lancaster, PA at a time to be determined on Monday. Washington and Gettysburg split its season series with each team winning on the opponents' home floor. The Bullets won 82-54 on January 9 at the Cain Athletic Center on the WC campus, while the Shoremen returned the favor with a 72-65 triumph on January 30 at Bream Gym on the Gettysburg campus. The other semifinal next Saturday will be top seed and host Franklin & Marshall against the winner of the Muhlenberg-Ursinus game which will take place on Wednesday night at Ursinus.