GALLATIN, TN – A three-pointer from sophomore Brian Johansson with 36 ticks on the clock lifted the 17^th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's basketball team to a 78-77 win over Coe in the final game of the Music City Classic Friday night.
 
The Blue Jays led for more than 34 minutes but found themselves down 77-73 with 1:43 to play. Sophomore John Windley hit one of two free throws, followed by a one of two showing by Johansson and the deficit was two with 47 seconds left. JHU took advantage of an offensive board off the miss and Johansson drained a three to stake the Blue Jays to the one-point lead. The Kohawks couldn't convert on two possessions in the final 36 seconds and the Jays took the win.
 
Coe jumped on Hopkins early and led 5-1 just 94 seconds into the game. A Tom Quarry layup and a Windley triple gave JHU the lead, but Bennett Sherry answered with a bucket in the paint to grab the lead back for Coe at 16:30. Windley responded with another three to spark a 12-2 run that saw the Blue Jays go up 18-9 with 12:48 to play in the half. The Kohawks answered with a 13-4 run over a seven-minute span to tie the game at 22. Greg Hall capped the run with a bucket from downtown at the 5:39-mark.
 
The tie was short-lived thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Quarry and Windley. Senior Carson James followed with a layup and just like that Hopkins led 30-22. After a Cael Schmitt free throw, Johansson and Ethan Bartlett hit back-to-back threes and the lead grew to 13 with 63 seconds to go. Schmitt answered with a pull-up jumper, but Windley came right back with an old-fashioned three-point play to stake the Blue Jays to a 39-27 lead with five ticks on the clock. Schmitt then drained a 23-footer at the buzzer to make it a nine-point game at the break.
 
Brady Klahn opened the second with a layup to pull the Kohawks within seven. The Blue Jays answered with six straight points and the lead was up to 13 just 30 seconds later. Hopkins maintained its double-digit lead for more than five minutes. Trailing 60-46, Coe scored seven unanswered points to make it a seven-point game. The teams then traded buckets over a three-minute span and JHU led 67-60 with 9:11 to play.
 
Klahn then hit from downtown to ignite a 17-6 Kohawks' run that saw them go up 77-73. Klahn and Schmitt combined to score 15 of the 17 points, with Klahn punctuating the run with a pair of free throws at 1:43 on the clock. Windley and Johansson took over from there, scoring the final five points of the game to grab the win for the Blue Jays.
 
Quarry scored a game-high 27 points, to go with six rebounds, and now has 965 career points. Windley finished with 20 points, going 4-of-7 from downtown. Bartlett grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and added seven points. Schmitt led the Kohawks with 25 points and four assists. TJ Schnurr added 17 points and six rebounds, while Sherry chipped in nine points.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, January 4 at Dickinson. The Centennial Conference contest is scheduled for an 8:00 pm start.
 
Notes: This is the first time two Blue Jays scored at least 20 points since January 15, 2022 • Head coach Josh Loeffler now has 97 wins at Johns Hopkins.