Hopkins Slips Past Villa Julie, 64-61, In Overtime at Provdent Pride Tournament

BALTIMORE, MD – Sophomore Pat O’Connell scored four of his seven points in overtime and senior Doug Polster hit a game-clinching layup with six seconds remaining in the extra session to lead host Johns Hopkins to a 64-61 win over Villa Julie in the fifth-place game of the 2007 Provident Pride of Maryland Men’s Basketball Tournament. The game, a rematch of the 2005 Pride of Maryland Championship game and a first round NCAA Tournament game last season, saw four lead changes in overtime before Polster’s layup finally sealed the win for the Blue Jays.

Villa Julie, which forced overtime by holding the Blue Jays to just two points in the final 6:56 of regulation, took a quick 59-56 lead in the extra session on a three-pointer by sophomore Greg Woody just 35 seconds into overtime. A jumper by senior Kevin Roach trimmed the deficit to 59-58 and O’Connell drained a pair of free throws 50 seconds later to give the Blue Jays a 60-59 lead.

Sophomore Mike Turner gave the Mustangs what would be their last lead of the game with a short jumper with 2:34 remaining and the Mustangs had a chance to add to the lead a minute later, but Woody misfired on a three-pointer and O’Connell got behind the defense on the rebound and converted a layup off a 60-foot pass from junior Collin Kamm. O’Connell missed the free throw that would have completed the convetional three-point play, but came down with the rebound off a Justin Miles miss from in close 25 seconds later to give the Blue Jays possession with a 62-61 lead. Hopkins milked all but six seconds off the clock before Polster went strong to the hole and got the roll in traffic to make it 64-61. Turner came up short on a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced a second overtime for the Mustangs.

A back-and-forth first half saw three ties and seven lead changes before the Blue Jays scored 10 of the final 17 points of the period to take a slim 35-33 lead at intermission. Sophomore Andrew Farber-Miller scored seven of his nine points in the first half to lead the Blue Jays, while Woody got nine of his 12 before intermission to pace the Mustangs. Villa Julie hit 50-percent of its first-half shots (14-of-28), but the Blue Jays hung tough behind Farber-Miller and a balanced attack that saw 10 players score for JHU before halftime.

The Blue Jays maintained the lead for almost the first 18 minutes of the second half and pushed the lead to six on five different occasions, but could never quite put the Mustangs out of reach. A pair of free throws by junior Scott Weisenfeld gave the Blue Jays their final six-point lead at 54-48 with just under seven minutes remaining before a jumper by Turner and back-to-back layups by Elysian Richardson and Miles tied the game at 54 with 2:21 left in regulation. A layup by Polster with just over 90 seconds remaining gave Hopkins a 56-54 lead, but Chaise Lancster’s only basket of the second half forced the fifth and final tie of regulation. O’Connell missed a 12-foot baseline jumper for the Blue Jays with 29 seconds remaining and Lancaster’s 10-footer was off the mark in the final three seconds to send the game to overtime.

Roach led the Blue Jays with 12 points and six rebounds, while Farber-Miller (9 points), Polster (8) and O’Connell (7) paced a balanced offense for Hopkins. Woody and Richardson both scored 12 points for Villa Julie, which held a 41-32 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over 22 times (to just 15 for Hopkins) to offset that bulge.