Blue Jays Spoil Emotional Night as Damon Brooks is Honored

Hammer Drops 18 in First Half Blue Jay Rally 

TOWSON, Md. — Goucher honored a member of last year's squad, Damon Brooks, who was paralyzed earlier this year at halftime of tonight's Johns Hopkins win.

Goucher (1-4) raced out to a 7-0 lead after Richard Harris (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) converted a conventional three-point play and Brian Morton II (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph) and Troy DeShields (Seaford, Del./Sussex Technical) each made layups.

Alex Noble (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) gave Goucher its biggest lead of the game at 12-4, but the Blue Jays scored the next 10 points to take the lead, which it never ceded.

Trae Lindsay (Baltimore, Md./Patapsco) scored the final five points of the game, wrapping up the scoring with a thunderous dunk over two defenders to pull the Gophers within 72-52.

Jimmy Hammer scored 18 first-half points for Johns Hopkins (3-1) on his way to a game-high 21.

George Bugarinovic had 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for the Blue Jays.

Harris led Goucher with 12 points on just 3-of-17 shooting. He has now been Goucher's top scorer in all three games in which he has played.

DeShields was the only other Gopher in double digits with 11.

The crowd of 583 rose to give Goucher's Damon Brooks a standing ovation at the half as he was accompanied onto the court by Director of Athletics Geoffrey Miller.

Miller thanked the crowd for their support of Brooks, and then passed the microphone off to the former Gopher guard to say a few words. Brooks too thanked the crowd and vowed to continue working hard to recover from a spinal cord injury suffered this April.