HOBOKEN, N.J. - The Drew University men's basketball team trimmed a 22-point deficit all the way to eight, but the rally ran out of time as the Rangers lost by a final of 81-70 to 13th-ranked Johns Hopkins University in the first round of the Stevens Holiday Tournament Sunday evening.
The Rangers (7-2) will now play The College of New Jersey in the consolation game on Monday at 1 p.m. Johns Hopkins will face Stevens in championship game at 3 p.m. Stevens defeated TCNJ 73-53 in the other first-round game.
Senior guard
Riley Collins led the Rangers with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals while junior forward
Lybrant Robinson netted 17 points. Freshman forward
Howard McBurnie, Jr. netted 11 points while junior forward
Malachi Walker, Jr. collected seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocked shots.
Drew was facing a nationally-ranked foe for the first time since an 85-74 loss at No. 19 Susquehanna on Feb. 11, 2017. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Rangers played since a 76-74 win over No. 11 Susquehanna on Jan. 16, 2016.
The Blue Jays (9-1) were led by Conner Delaney, who posted 23 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Hopkins led 49-27 with 13:25 left, and it was still a 20-point game (60-40) with 8:38 to go before the Rangers embarked on their comeback. Senior guard
Cole Hanntz knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during a 7-0 spurt that sliced the deficit to 13. A Collins steal led to a fast-break lay-up from senior guard
Michael Boice before Robinson drilled a trey with 3:34 left to pull Drew to within single digits (64-55).
The Blue Jays nudged their lead back to 14 with 1:29 showing, but the Rangers refused to go quietly. McBurnie dropped in a lay-up with 53 seconds left before Robinson converted a conventional 3-point play with 43 ticks showing to make it 76-65. Collins then drained a 3 from the right corner with 33 seconds to go, prompting a Hopkins timeout.
Drew pulled to within eight for the last time on a Hanntz lay-in with 24 seconds remaining that made it 78-70. But that's as close as they would get, as Delaney went 2-for-2 at the foul line one second later before the Rangers missed their final two shots.
The Rangers scored the first five points of the game, but Hopkins dug in defensively and allowed just 12 points over the remainder of the half and led 35-17 heading into the locker room.
Hopkins shot 50.9% from the field and held a 41-29 rebounding advantage. The Rangers forced 22 turnovers, marking the third time this season they have forced an opponent to 20-plus giveaways.
