BALTIMORE – The Haverford College men's basketball team fell to No. 18 Johns Hopkins on the road Saturday afternoon, 96-54. The first-place Blue Jays showed off their national prowess in the victory with a quick start and never let up as the Fords were unable to snap JHU's program record winning streak in Baltimore.
Saturday's game was Johns Hopkins' 14th annual Wall-O'Mahoney game. The game, which regularly features Haverford as the visiting opponent, honors Johns Hopkins' alumni Glen Wall and Matt O'Mahony. Wall and O'Mahony died in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. Each year, the annual contest conducted on alumni weekend honors a team MVP from each squad in their memories.
Matt Sherman was named Haverford's MVP of the game after he finished with a team-high 14 points. The Fords' sophomore was one of three Fords to finish in double figures as Gibby Graves (11 points) and Lucas Colombo (10 points) joined Sherman in that category. Colombo just missed a double-double with eight rebounds, while Graves finished with seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. Johns Hopkins was led by its MVP, Ryan Curran. Curren finished with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor and a team-best seven rebounds. He was one of four Blue Jays to finish in double figures.
On the court, the two sides traded baskets on the initial two possessions. After that, the nationally-ranked Blue Jays proved too much on the afternoon as they took a 49-24 lead into the locker room with a shooting percentage of more than 62-percent in the opening half.
After closing out the first half with a three-pointer for the final points of the first 20 minutes for either side, Sherman added 11 more points to the scoreboard for the Fords in the second half. Haverford got more consistent defensive pressure on Johns Hopkins in the second half, holding the opposition to 50-percent from the field over the final 20 minutes. However, a relentless Blue Jays' defense was very effective as Johns Hopkins scored the final 11 points of the game to hold its largest lead of the afternoon at the final buzzer.
Men's basketball will now turn the page to February. Next week's Centennial slate features two more road contests. The first of those games will be Wednesday at Muhlenberg. The Fords topped the Mules during an 80-77 conference opening victory way back in November inside the Gooding '84 Arena. Wednesday's game at Muhlenberg is scheduled to tip at 8 p.m. The women's contest will precede that game at 6 p.m.