January 9, 2007
Haverford Knocks Off #19 Johns Hopkins, 64-59
BALTIMORE, MD – Visiting
Haverford College rallied from a 13-point first half deficit to
knock off 19th ranked Johns Hopkins, 64-59, Tuesday evening in
Centennial Conference men's basketball action. Haverford sophomore
guard Chaz Thomas had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds,
while seniors Ray Brown and Mike Fratangelo each tallied 15 points
in the victory. Tonight's win snaps a three-game losing streak
against the Blue Jays, and is the first win for the Fords in Baltimore
since January 12, 1980. Haverford improves to 5-7 on the season
and 4-2 in Centennial play, while Johns Hopkins falls to 11-2
and 5-1.
Down 27-15 with six minutes to go in the first half, Haverford
went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 27-22 with 3:00 to go.
Despite being down as many as 13 points earlier in the first period,
the Fords continued to battle and went into the locker room down
six points, 32-26.
The Fords continued to claw their way back into the game after
the half, closing to within four points, 40-36, after Fratangelo
sank a 12-foot baseline jumper. Brown and Fratangelo forced two
steals on consecutive Hopkins possessions, enabling Haverford
to tie the game at 40 with 13:45 to go. The Fords capped off their
9-2 run with Thomas draining a baseline three-pointer to give
Haverford a 43-42 lead.
Hopkins quickly answered Haverford's run, and put together a 8-0
run over the next four minutes to re-take the lead, 50-43. Haverford
trailed by as many as eight points, but a three-pointer by sophomore
David Nowacki closed the Hopkins lead back down to five points,
53-48, with 4:15 left in the game. The Fords defense then stepped
up and stopped the Blue Jays over their next two possessions.
Brown scored the next four points of the game, narrowing Hopkins
margin to 53-52 with just over two minutes remaining. Hopkins
Matt Griffin was fouled as he hit a lay up. Griffin made the free
throw attempt to put the Blue Jays back up by four, 56-52. Brown
crashed the offensive boards on Haverford's next possession after
a missed shot and was fouled from the back. After Brown sank two
free throws, sophomore guard Greg Rosnick took the ball away from
Hopkins at half-court, and made a fast break lay up while fouled.
Rosnick missed the go ahead free throw, however, Hopkins Colin
Kamm turned the ball over on the other end giving the Fords the
ball back. Fratangelo hit a 15 foot jumper with 37 seconds on
the clock to pull Haverford ahead, 58-56.
Hopkins T.J. Valerio then front-rimmed a three-point attempt from
the top of the arc, with Brown collecting the rebound. The end
of the game came down to who would fare better from the free throw
line, as Brown was quickly fouled with and drained both of his
free throw attempts to put Haverford up 60-56. Dribbling up the
floor, Hopkins Doug Polster was fouled and made one of two attempts,
pulling Hopkins back to within 60-57 with 17.4 seconds left.
Unable to get the ball in bounds on the first attempt, Haverford
had to burn its final timeout. After the timeout, Rosnick was
fouled by Valerio. Rosnick came up short his first free throw
attempt, but sank the second to give Haverford a 61-57 lead with
16.8 seconds remaining. Hopkins freshman guard Patrick O'Connell
was fouled driving to the hoop with 11.8 seconds on the clock,
and made one of two free throws. With 9.2 seconds to go, Fratangelo
was fouled and made the second of two attempts, giving Haverford
its four point lead back, 62-58. O'Connell went back to the line
with 4.5 seconds left, and made his first attempt but missed the
second. Thomas grabbed the rebound and dribbled to half-court
before being fouled with .5 seconds to go. Thomas sank both free
throws to ice the 64-59 Haverford win.
Rosnick anchored the Haverford defense, collecting a game-high
five steals. Nowacki contributed seven points and grabbed five
rebounds for Haverford. Fratangelo scored his 15 points on 6-of-9
shooting from the floor in the game, while Brown went 5-for-10
from the field.
Hopkins was led by Matt Griffin's 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Griffin scored 18 points in the first half, making 6-of-8 shots
from the field and going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Hopkins
forward Danny Nawrocki was held to 11 points and six rebounds
in the game.
The Fords committed just 15 turnovers in the game, while the Blue
Jays turned the ball over 24 times. Both teams shot poorly from
the free throw line. Haverford converted on just 18-of-31 free
throw attempts (58.1%) while Hopkins went 21-for-33 (63.6%) from
the charity stripe. However, the Fords converted from the line
when it mattered most, making six of their final eight free throw
attempts in the last 22 seconds of the game.
Haverford will look to make it four wins in a row this Thursday
when they host Centennial rival Dickinson. Game time is set for
7:00 p.m. Box Score
