Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Visiting Franklin & Marshall held the Johns Hopkins men's basketball team to just 51 points as the Diplomats beat the Blue Jays, 60-51, in Centennial Conference action Tuesday night. The Blue Jays slip to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference while the Dips remain unbeaten at 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the CC.

Trailing nine with just two minutes gone in the second half, senior George Bugarinovic hit a jumper to ignite a 13-2 run that saw Hopkins take a 37-35 lead with 12:38 to play. Four different Blue Jays scored during the run and it was capped by a three-pointer from sophomore Ryan Curran. The Hopkins defense forced three F&M turnovers and four missed shots during the run. Cedric Moune gave Franklin & Marshall the lead back at 12:06 with an old-fashioned three-point play. Junior Niko Kotoulas answered with a layup on the other end and the Blue Jays led 39-38.

The lead see-sawed back-and-forth as a pair of free throws from Moune swung the lead back to the Dips, until a Matt Chiusano layup made it 41-40 Hopkins. Moune pushed F&M back on top with 8:52 to go and then a Jared Wright fast-break layup gave the Dips a three-point lead. Bugarinovic cut the lead to one with a basket in the paint, but it was answered by back-to-back Morgan Lee buckets. The teams traded points over the ensuing three minutes and Franklin & Marshall led 52-49 with 2:37 to play.

Brandon Federici then hit the back-end of a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to push the Dips ahead by seven with 1:29 on the clock. Bugarinovic drained a two to make it a five-point game, but Hopkins could get no closer in the closing minute as F&M went 4-of-6 from the line to seal the win.

Franklin & Marshall jumped out to a 12-2 lead by the 11:23-mark before a quick five-point spurt by Hopkins made it a five-point game with 9:14 to go. The Dips answered with a 7-2 run, fueled by Wright and Federici, to go up 19-9. The lead continued to seesaw up and down and Franklin & Marshall led 29-22 at the half.

A Bugarinovic layup to start the second cut the deficit to five, but back-to-back Dip buckets pushed the lead back to nine. Another Bugarinovic bucket ignited that 13-2 run that gave the Blue Jays their lead of the game at the 12:38-mark.

Hammer led the Blue Jays with 16 points while Bugarinovic added 10 points. Bugarinovic now has 985 career points while Hammer sits at 973. Senior Omar Randall had a team-high six rebounds and junior Austin Vasiliadis handed out six assists. Federici led the Diplomats with a game-high 19 points, though 13 of those came in the first half. Moune added 18 points and 10 boards, while Lee chipped in 10 points.

Hopkins returns to action next Tuesday as the Blue Jays visit the Gettysburg Bullets. The Centennial Conference tilt is slated for a 6:00 pm tip-off at Bream Gym.