Jan. 4, 2008

Box Score

YORK, PA - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team cut a 12-point deficit to just one with 2:21 to play against undefeated Elizabethtown Friday afternoon, but could not retake the lead, falling 74-67. JHU falls to 5-5 overall and will play in the consolation game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic presented by Best Western. Etown improves to 10-0 and will face the winner of the York-Eastern game in Saturday's championship game.

Hopkins started out strong, opening up an 18-7 lead on the strength of 10 points from senior Doug Polster (Bernardsville, NJ/Bernards). Elizabethtown responded with 11 unanswered to take its first lead of the game at 19-18 on a three pointer by Mike Schatzmann. The teams traded the lead back and forth over the next five minutes as neither team could pull away.

Etown retook the lead for good with 5:49 to play in the half when Keith Fogel hit a lay-up in the paint to give the visitors a 37-26 lead. Chad Piersol then drained a bucket from downtown as Elizabethtown pushed out to an eight-point lead late in the half. A jumper from senior Kevin Roach (Derwood, MD/Colonel Zadok Magruder) and an old fashioned three-point play from sophomore Pat O'Connell (Baltimore, MD/Loyola Blakefield) and JHU trailed 37-33 heading into the break.

Schatzmann and Fogel combined for 10 points as Elizabethtown pushed out to a 48-38 lead just under four minutes into the second half. JHU fought back, but Etown answered each Hopkins' bucket to maintain the lead. But JHU would not go away as a pair of free throws from Polster and another three-point play from O'Connell and the lead was down to five with 10:42 to play. Elizabethtown answered with a pair of lay-ups from Bryce Rodgers and a three-point play from Mike Church to make it a 64-52 game with 6:28 to play in the game.

The Hopkins' defense stepped up forcing four turnovers in just 68 seconds as O'Connell and Polster combined for 11 points cutting the deficit to just one with 2:21 to play in the game. Elizabethtown then called a timeout and regained the momentum on a lay-up by Schatzmann, followed by a dunk from Church after a JHU turnover. Etown would hold on, converting four of five free throw attempts in the final 22 seconds of the game.

O'Connell paced the Hopkins offense with a game and career-high 22 points while Polster punched up 19 points. Roach pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for Hopkins. Four players hit in double figures for Etown, led by Church and Schatzmann with 16 points each. JHU hit six buckets from downtown, extending its streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 301. It is the ninth longest active streak in Division III.

Hopkins will play the loser of the York-Eastern game at 2:00 pm in the Charles Wolf Gym on the campus of York College on Saturday. Live stats and web streaming is available through the York Spartans website at: http://www.ycpspartans.com/sports/mbkb/2007-08/news/mbb_CVC_homepage

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