Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team had four players score in double figures and limited visiting Ursinus to just 26.3% shooting from the field as the Blue Jays scored a 76-54 victory over the Bears at Goldfarb Gymnasium. The victory is the fourth in the last five games for Johns Hopkins, which improves to 8-7 overall and 5-3 in the Centennial Conference. Ursinus dropped its third straight and slips to 6-9 overall and 2-6 in the Centennial.

The Blue Jays led 33-28 at the half and were up just 41-35 early in the second half before they slowly began to extend the lead. A jumper by junior Ryan Curran and a conventional three-point play by senior Sam Gordon extended the lead to 46-35 with 14:59 to play and the Bears were never closer than nine the rest of the way.

Although the Bears never seriously threatened over the final 15 minutes, the Blue Jay lead never swelled above 12 until the final 10 minutes with Gordon and fellow senior Matt Billups doing a lot of the damage down the stretch. Gordon, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half, scored seven points in a three-minute span that helped push the margin from 49-40 to 58-44, while Billups later scored six points in a 10-3 spree that pushed the lead to 68-47.

A 22-point Blue Jay victory didn't look possible early as Ursinus sprinted out to a 9-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. A pair of three pointers from freshman Eric Williams fueled the game-opening spree, which ended on a jumper by Curran with 14:49 left in the opening half.

Curran's jumper ignited a game-changing 23-3 run for Johns Hopkins that turned the seven-point deficit into a 13-point lead. Senior Gene Williams scored nine of his 11 first-half points during the run as he hit three triples in an 81-second span. Hopkins trailed 12-11 when he hit his first and led 20-12 when he capped his personal 9-0 run.

Ursinus made a game of it by the half as the Bears outscored Johns Hopkins 16-8 over the final nine minutes of the first half. A three-pointer by Remi Janicot 54 seconds before intermission capped the late spree for Ursinus; Janicot and senior Malik Draper scored five points apiece during the run.

A quick-starting second half saw the teams combine for 15 points in less than three minutes and a jumper by Joe LoStracco had the Bears facing just the 41-35 deficit at the 17:23 mark, but Curran's jumper 14 seconds later pushed the lead back to eight and the Blue Jays never looked back over the final 15 minutes.

Curran led four Blue Jay starters in double figures as he punched up a game-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Gordon added 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Williams (11) and Billups (10) also scored at least 10 points. Billups added nine rebounds and a career-high-tying five blocks and played a big role in a Blue Jay defense and harassed Ursinus into a 6-for-32 (.188) shooting effort in the second half.

Janicot and Williams both scored 14 points to lead way for Ursinus. Janicot added 10 rebounds, while LoStraco added 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.

Johns Hopkins, which has now won six straight against the Bears to grab a 49-44 lead in the all-time series, will return to action on Wednesday, January 20, when the Blue Jays travel to Dickinson. This will be a rematch of the last two Centennial Conference championship games; each team claimed the title on the opponent's home floor with Hopkins taking the title in 2014 and Dickinson winning last season.

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