Forget last week's surprising, 70-53 loss to Gettysburg.
The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team is living up to its high preseason expectations.
Hopkins coach Bill Nelson can be something of a push-button coach with 12 experienced veterans on his squad, plus four promising freshmen.
The Blue Jays are 6-2 as they break for the holidays, knowing they could be 7-1 if they hadn't lost to the Bullets eight days after beating Navy, 66-61 - their first victory over a large Division I school in 46 years and first-ever defeat of the Mids in 18 basketball meetings.
"That loss to Gettysburg hurt," said Hopkins senior forward Jay Kreider. "That's the kind of team we need to beat if we want to make the D-III tournament. Beating Navy won't help."
Kreider, who played at River Hill in Howard County, is called the "team MVP" by Nelson. Kreider is second in scoring (13.8) and rebounding (5.6), is shooting 82.1 percent from the free-throw line, has a 44.7 percent mark from three-point range and has nine steals and three blocks.
Senior forward Steve Adams leads in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (7.4), and two other seniors, guard Brendan Kamm (8.3 ppg) and center Mike Blaine (6.9), join Kreider as the leaders of this impressive team.
The win over Navy was a momentous occasion for the Blue Jays, who could have been excused if they had broken into a public celebration at Navy's Alumni Hall.
But the gleeful Hopkins players somehow restrained themselves.
"Our kids didn't jump for joy," said Nelson, who had not played a Division I school in his previous 16 seasons at the school. "They saved it for the locker room."
Navy coach Don DeVoe provided one of the highlights of the night for Hopkins, speaking with each player during the post-game handshakes.
"We caught Navy at the right time," Nelson said. "It was their fourth game in eight days, they had traveled from a game early into Tuesday morning before playing us Wednesday night, and it was Army-Navy [football] game week."
On track for Morgan
Avanelle Baird and Mariama Gondo were two of Morgan State's top winners in the recent Bucknell Blue and Orange Indoor Invitational track meet.
Baird took the women's high jump with an effort of 5 feet 9 3/4 inches, and Gondo captured the women's 200 meters in a personal-best 25.51 seconds.
Other Morgan women's winners were Sharonda Boone (55-meter dash), Kady Joseph (400 meters) and Stacy Holmes (500 meters).
Among the Morgan men, Kevon Pierre took the 55 meters.
Towson's White honored
Towson senior split end Jamal White received two prestigious football awards last week in New Jersey, recognizing his career as the school and Patriot League's all-time leading receiver.
White, from Sicklerville, N.J., was honored first by the Touchdown Club of Southern New Jersey, which named him the state's College Offensive Player of the Year, and then he was selected New Jersey's Division I-AA 2002 Player of the Year by the Brooks-Irvine Memorial Football Club of South Jersey.
White, a three-time All-Patriot League pick, finished his career with 219 receptions for 3,156 yards and 21 touchdowns.
As a sophomore, he became the only player in Towson history to be named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press.
Ridgway an All-American
Salisbury offensive lineman Beau Ridgway was one of just 25 players named to the American Football Coaches Association's Division III All-America team.
Ridgway helped the Sea Gulls (9-2) rise to fourth in the nation in rushing (313.6 yards a game).
He also became the first Salisbury player invited to play in the Aztec Bowl (for Division III seniors) in the 30-year history of the bowl.
UMES loses player
Junior forward Terrance Stafford has left the UMES basketball team for personal reasons.
Stafford started two games and played in four for the Hawks, averaging 8.8 points and 1.5 rebounds.