FREDERICK, Md.--Senior Jesse Gutekunst notched his third straight double-double with 18 points and 17 rebounds as the Hood College men's basketball team (2-1) defeated visiting Johns Hopkins University (1-2), 52-43, Tuesday to advance to the winners' bracket of the third annual Provident Bank Pride of Maryland Tournament.

Hood overcame a sub-par shooting effort in the first half and an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers in the contest to outlast the Blue Jays. The Blazers' first field goal of the contest didn't come until the 14:45 mark of the first half when junior Ryan Junghans hit a short jumper, which ignited an 8-0 run and resulted in a 13-6 Hood edge midway through the stanza.

Hood maintained that advantage until a jumper by Pat O'Connell knotted the score at 17-17 with just under five minutes left. Hopkins regained the lead on another bucket by Andrew Farber-Miller. But three foul shots by Gutekunst gave the Blazers a slim 20-19 lead at the break.

Hood came out of the lockerroom on a tear and quickly built a nine-point cushion capped by an Anthony Bennett fast-break layup which made it 32-23 at the 13:55 mark. Hood led by double figures briefly on two occasions but the Blue Jays hung around and closed to within four on a pair of triples by Phil Beggans.

Hopkins trimmed the lead to three on a layup by Adam Baumgartner with just over five minutes remaining. After a Hood timeout, the Blazers built the lead back up to eight on layups by Rian McHenry and Gutekunst and a Bennett free throw and the Blue Jays got no closer than five the rest of the way. Hopkins had solid looks but misfired on 9-of-10 attempts in the final 3:22.

Gutekunst led all scorers with his 18 points, 13 of which came at the charity stripe. He also picked off five steals, tying his career-high. Junghans, who like Gutekunst was frequently double-teamed throughout the contest, finished with 12 points but was held scoreless from beyond the arc for only the fourth time in his Hood career and the first time since Feb. 20, 2007 against Goucher. McHenry chipped in nine points and four boards while junior Jeff Willison came off the bench to net six points and grabbed a pair of rebounds.

The Blazers limited Hopkins' leading scorer Doug Polster (20.0 ppg) to just three points on 1-of-9 shooting as the Blue Jays combined to shoot just 25.9 percent from the field.

Hood will next play a familiar foe in St. Mary's College (Md.) Saturday at 8 p.m. in the next round of the Provident Bank Pride of Maryland Tournament on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.