The men’s basketball team clinched the top seed for the upcoming Centennial Conference playoffs with a 68-63 win at Johns Hopkins on Saturday, Feb. 15. This is first time in program history that the Red Devils will have home court for the conference tournament. Coach Seretti’s team also dominated second place McDaniel earlier in the week, defeating the Green Terror 83-61 on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The two wins gave the team 14 in the conference, improving to 14-2 on the year, and breaking the school record of 13 wins set last year.

Johns Hopkins started off the game impressively; pulling ahead 16-11 before Brian Gerney ’14 and Tom McInerney ’14 helped Dickinson grab the lead with about ten minutes left in the first half. The game remained close throughout the remainder of the half as the Red Devils led 30-26 at halftime.

Coming out of the break, Dickinson stretched the lead to six due to the play of Adam Honig ’14 who led the team with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Hopkins would fight back to take the lead once more, 39-38, with under 14 left to play. From there on out it was a hotly contested battle, as both teams would go back and forth down the stretch. Tied at 52 with under five minutes left, Honig hit three of four three-point attempts within a two-minute span to put the Red Devils in front 61-55 with 2:54 left.

The Blue Jays were led by guard Jimmy Hammer, who put up an impressive 24 points and made several key shots to keep the game close. In the final 1:14 of the game, Hammer made a jumper, followed by a three-pointer and clutch free throws. Brandon Angradi ’16 hit a pair of his own from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 65-60 with 44 seconds left. The sophomore sharpshooter ended the day with 11 points. Honig’s pair of free throws with 3 seconds left gave the Red Devils a 5-point win.

The win is nothing short of monumental for the program. “To sustain their [Hopkins] first couple of punches was big for us,” said Angradi. “Saturday was a huge step for the program. Most importantly because it just shows all the hard work and dedication this years’ seniors all the way down to the freshmen have put in day in, day out,” continued Angradi. “And we know that we wouldn’t be where we are today without the guys that were here playing before us.”

In their previous game, the Red Devils blew out the McDaniel Green Terror, who came into the game in second place in the conference. The team was firing on all cylinders as they poured in over 80 or more points for the fifth time in conference play this season with the 83-61 win. Honig opened the game with a tone-setting shot from beyond the arc. The team hit a total of 13 three pointers throughout the course of the game with contributions from five different Red Devils.

McDaniel trailed 32-29 before the Devils went on a 8-0 run to close out the half. With the score 40-29, Dickinson would never look back as they stretched the lead to 27 in the second half.

It was truly a team effort across the board as four Red Devils were also in double figures, led by Gerry Wixted ’15 who contributed a team leading 20 points.

Dickinson finishes out the regular season with matchups against familiar foes Muhlenberg and Franklin & Marshall. They travel to Muhlenberg on Wednesday, Feb. 19 and conclude the regular season at home against the Diplomats on Saturday, Feb. 22. Dickinson has a chance to determine Muhlenberg’s playoff fate with a win over the Mules and a Gettysburg win.

The Red Devils look for redemption against both teams, who have accounted for Dickinson’s only two conference losses. Franklin & Marshall handed Dickinson their first conference defeat, downing the Red Devils 67-58 on Jan. 22, and Muhlenberg defeated Dickinson 75-72 on Jan. 28.

Looking ahead to the Centennial Conference playoffs, the men’s basketball team has their eyes set on another conference title and NCAA Tournament berth. They will need to win the conference tournament over the weekend of Feb. 28 in order to do so.