Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team got a game-high 17 points from sophomore Kyle Doran as the Blue Jays beat the Framingham State Rams, 80-53, on the first day of the Blue Jay Invitational Saturday afternoon. Hopkins wins its second consecutive game and improves to 4-5 on the season while Framingham State falls to 2-8.

This was a close one early as the teams traded baskets over the opening 3:35 of the game. Tony Alexandre put Framingham State on top with a jumper at 16:25 but Hopkins answered with a Doran jumper to spark a 16-3 Blue Jays' run. Senior Niko Kotoulas fueled the run with seven straight points as Hopkins pushed out to a 22-9 lead with 8:38 to play. The lead seesawed up and down over the ensuing four minutes as JHU led 29-19 at the 4:41-mark.

Daniel Gould trimmed the deficit to single digits with a bucket from downtown to ignite an 11-1 run by the Rams. They did much of their damage from behind the arc with three three-pointers as they cut the lead to three with 2:08 on the clock. A pair of Matt Billups free throws pushed the lead back to five, before Timothy McCarthy hit one of two for Framingham. Junior Nikhil Panu then drained a triple to put Hopkins on top 38-31 but a Matthew Diver bucket in the paint made it a five-point game at the half.

Hopkins opened the second with six straight points to push its lead to 11 points but back-to-back threes from McCarthy quickly trimmed the lead back to five. The teams traded buckets over the next two minutes and Hopkins led 51-43 with 13:40 to play. Williams answered with a three and junior Kyle Doran followed with a fast-break dunk to kick-start a 14-2 run that saw the Blue Jays' lead balloon up to 20 points by the 7:38-mark.

A Patrick Gould triple made it a 65-48 game, but Panu answered with a three of his own and that's as close as the Rams would get in the final seven minutes as the Blue Jays led by as much as 27 points.

Doran finished with the game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Williams added 14 points, five boards and two assists. Kotoulas posted his first career double double, scoring 10 points and grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jesse Flannery handed out five assists and also blocked a shot. McCarthy was the only player to score in double figures for Framingham State, finishing with 13 points. Hopkins shot a season-best 57.4 percent from the floor and outrebounded FSU, 40-24.

Hopkins will take on Hampden-Sydney in the championship of the Blue Jay Invitational. Tip-off is set for 3:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym. Framingham State will face Rosemont in the consolation game at 1:00 pm.