BALTIMORE, MD - Nine players reached double digits in scoring as the Johns Hopkins University men's basketball team built a 16 point halftime lead and rallied to hold off Franklin & Marshall College 80-73 in Centennial Conference action at Goldfarb Gymnasium.
The win gave the Blue Jays their first victory over Franklin & Marshall since a 68-65 win at Goldfarb on February 22, 2003. The Diplomats took the previous five games in the series, including two years' worth of season sweeps.
For Hopkins, T.J. Valerio led all scorers with 24 points, as he made eight-of-13 from the field, including six-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc, and two-of-four at the free throw line. Danny Nawrocki added 12 points and 12 rebounds, Matt Griffin chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds and Scott Weisenfeld tallied 15 points and seven assists as the Blue Jays improved to 12-3 on the season and remained in first place in the Centennial Conference with an 8-1 record.
Forward Bryan Teschke (Jr., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) led Franklin & Marshall as he tallied 21 points with four rebounds. Center Derek Hines (So., Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) added 11 points with four boards, point guard Logan Outerbridge (Jr., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) tacked on 13 points and two assists and guard Adam Leonard (So., Muncy, PA/Muncy) registered 10 points, a block and a game high three steals. Forward Brandon Smith (Sr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) finished the Diplomats five double-digit scorers as he netted 14 points with 11 rebounds, four assists, a block and three steals to raise his career totals to 1,395 points, 612 rebounds, 253 assists, 63 blocks and 190 steals as he moved within eight points of surpassing Jackiem Wright '05 for seventh on the career scoring list at the College.
The game was all Franklin & Marshall (7-9, 2-7 Centennial Conference) in the opening minutes as Teschke hit jumpers at 19:08 and 17:53 before Hines converted on a jump shot at 17:21 to account for a 6-0 Diplomats' run to open the game.
Hopkins clawed its way back into the game to go ahead 11-10 on a three-pointer by Weisenfeld with 13:42 left in the first half. The trey ignited an 11-0 run by the Blue Jays as Hopkins went ahead 19-10.
JHU continued to increase the lead in the first half as Hopkins entered the locker room with a 43-27 halftime lead behind 17 first half points by Valerio.
Franklin & Marshall opened the second half with a 12-3 run over the first five minutes to pull to within 46-39 with 15:10 to play.
Nawrocki and Valerio dropped in buckets to push the lead back to 11 points at 50-39, but Outerbridge took over the game hitting back-to-back three pointers and driving to the hoop for a lay-up to trim the Blue Jays' margin to 50-47.
Bobby Sharafeddin knocked down a three-pointer at 12:04 to put the lead at 53-47, but Hines made a jumper, Teschke converted a pair of free throws and Smith made a lay-up and a foul shot to put F&M ahead 54-53 with 10:21 left to play,
Hopkins regained the lead at 56-54, but Leonard took a pass from Smith and drained a three-pointer to give F&M back the lead at 57-56 with 9:07 on the clock.
The Blue Jays took the lead back 10 seconds later as Nawrocki made a lay-up.
F&M and Hopkins battled from there as the Blue Jays could not pull away as JHU led by as many as six points.
Ahead 69-66 with 2:22 to go, Hopkins began to attempt to seal the game as Weisenfeld made a pair of free throws and a lay-up to put his team in front 73-66 with 49 seconds to play
Trailing 75-68 with 20 seconds left on the clock, Teschke knocked down a three-pointer to pull the Diplomats to within 75-71. Following a one-for-two performance at the line by Weisenfled, guard Andrew McCaffrey (Jr., Exeter, NH/Phillips Exeter) made a lay-up to put F&M within three points at 76-73 with three seconds remaining.
However, Matt Griffin made two pairs of free throws in the final three seconds to seal the win for the Blue Jays.
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on January 21 at home versus Haverford College in Centennial Conference action. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Mayser Center.
