Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, PA - The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team shot nearly 53 percent from the field en route to a 76-56 win over host Ursinus Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays improve to 3-1 on the season and open Centennial Conference play with a win. The Bears fall to 0-3 on the season, including a 0-1 mark in the CC. The 20-point win is Hopkins' largest in Collegeville since a 76-47 win on December 8, 1976.

The game was close early as the teams traded buckets but Hopkins used an 11-4 run to turn a four-point game into an 11-point advantage with 5:23 to play. Junior Matt Chiusano got things going with a jumper at 9:04 and Hammer put the punctuation on it with a three-pointer, one his four on the day, to put Hopkins up 24-13. That three from Hammer was the first of five straight three-pointers by both teams in just a 72-second span.

Leading 30-19 after freshman Kyle Doran's triple at the 4:11-mark, the teams went back-and-forth over the remainder of the half. Hopkins would take a 39-25 lead into the locker room after a Ryan Curran layup with three ticks on the clock. Coming out of the half, Ursinus got back-to-back buckets by Remi Janicot and Matt Knowles to make it a nine-point game just 57 seconds in.

Hammer came right back with a jumper and then a steal that led to an Omar Randall layup and sparked a 16-5 run that saw the Jays build a 20-point lead. Six different players scored during the run as the Blue Jays used a balanced attack to put some distance between themselves and the Bears with 13:18 still to play. Ursinus could get no closer than 15 however for the remainder of the game and Hopkins led by as much as 21 in the final seven minutes.

Hammer led the Blue Jays with his second 20-point game of the season and 11th of his career. Playing in front of his hometown crowd, the Collegeville native went 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point to go along with two assists and two steals. Curran punched up a career-high 14 points with a 5-of-7 performance from the field. Also finishing in double figures were senior George Bugarinovic and junior Austin Vasiliadis. Bugarinovic finished with 10 points and team highs of five rebounds and three blocks. Vasiliadis chipped in 11 points while also handing out two assists. Steve Leonard was the only Bear to finish in double figures as he had 16 points, with 12 of those coming from downtown. Hopkins shot 52.8 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from three-point while turning the ball over just eight times.

Hopkins returns to action on Tuesday, November 25 as the Blue Jays host the Diplomats of Franklin & Marshall. Tip-off for the Centennial Conference tilt is slated for 8:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym.