Late flurry gives Johns Hopkins win over Moravian in opener

Moravian knew how Johns Hopkins wanted to attack on back-to-back possessions after the clock dipped under 2 minutes Thursday.

Conner Delaney still reached the spots he sought at closing time.

Johns Hopkins’ sophomore guard converted a driving layup with 1:05 to play after receiving a high ball screen. He added a step-back jumper 36 seconds later off another high ball screen as part of a 32-point night to lead the Blue Jays to an 81-75 win in a season-opening nonleague men’s basketball game at Johnston Hall.

Johns Hopkins, ranked No. 15 in the country in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, survived a 20-turnover night with Delaney’s shot-making. He scored 19 points in the second half and finished 12-for-22 from the field.

“He’s a heck of a player, a leader of his team,” Moravian senior and East Stroudsburg South graduate Oneil Holder said. “He’s a veteran. He knows what it takes to be tough.

“We just couldn’t contain him tonight. Hopefully we can learn from that and focus on William Paterson for the next one.”

Holder logged a team-high 31 minutes while scoring 15 points and grabbing six rebounds for Moravian, which is coming off a 20-8 season in which it won the first Landmark Conference title in program history. Jimmy Murray (17 points, five assists) and Nicholas Casazza (11 points, three steals) also reached double figures as the Greyhounds shot 50.9 percent from the field.

Moravian endured an off night from the arc in attempts and accuracy. The Greyhounds shot 25 percent from deep while attempting just 20 3-pointers. They averaged 30.8 3-point tries per game last season while shooting 37.4 percent from the arc.

“I didn’t think we did a great job of executing our offense,” Moravian coach Justin Potts said. “We got them out of whack in certain situations and turnovers and those kinds of things. We didn’t take advantage of getting some ball movement and wide-open shots.

“We got a little quick with the dribble, which we’ve been doing a little bit in the preseason. They took advantage of it tonight, and we didn’t capitalize on some of the mistakes they made.”

A start for Martino

Moravian junior and Bangor High graduate Mike Martino received a start in Thursday’s opener. He didn’t score but snagged a team-high seven rebounds in 21 minutes. He also had one assist and no turnovers.

Junior guard C.J. Barnes, a returning starter for Moravian, didn’t dress as he recovers from knee surgery. Potts said Barnes should return to practice Monday. Barnes averaged 10.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season.

Familiar faces

The coaching staff Johns Hopkins brought to Bethlehem featured a couple of familiar faces for Lehigh Valley basketball followers.

Ricky Hernandez served his first game as an assistant coach for the Blue Jays after spending the past two years on Moravian coach Justin Potts’ staff. Hernandez was a graduate assistant at East Stroudsburg University for two years before landing at Moravian.

Johns Hopkins head coach Josh Loeffler also spent time in the Lehigh Valley. He served as an assistant under Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon from 2008-12.

Coming next

Moravian will play its next three games on the road, starting with a Tuesday visit to William Paterson. The Greyhounds’ next home games is Nov. 20 against DeSales.

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