BALTIMORE, MD – Fourth-seeded Swarthmore built a double digit lead in the second half and then held off a late rally by second-seeded Johns Hopkins to top the Blue Jays, 67-62, in the Centennial Conference men's basketball championship game in Goldfarb Gym Sunday afternoon.
 
The Garnet, who won their second consecutive title with the victory, improve to 20-8 on the year and earn the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  The Blue Jays fall to 20-7 and will learn their NCAA fate on Monday, (February 26) when the bracket for the upcoming NCAA Tournament is announced.
 
Up 29-21 at the half, the Garnet got a Cal Hanson jumper to open the second half that pushed the lead to 10.  The Garnet were still up by nine (34-25) before the Blue Jays used an 8-4 spurt to trim the margin to 38-33 on a John Windley three-pointer with 14:37 on the clock.
 
Swarthmore quickly pushed the lead to 11 (46-35) and the Garnet still held that same lead after a Michael Caprise layup with just under 10 minutes remaining (48-37).
 
Johns Hopkins responded with a 10-3 run that trimmed the margin to 51-47 with exactly seven minutes to play.  Brayden Fagbemi hit a pair from the line to ignite the run, Brian Johansson added a three pointer from the wing and Will Sykes hit one-of-two from the line to draw the Jays as close as they'd been since just under six minutes remained in the first half.
 
The Garnet had the lead back up to 10 after an Eddie Paquette three pointer with 5:12 to play and the Garnet were still up nine (63-54) after a Brady Kageyama triple from the top as the clock dripped under three minutes to play before the Blue Jays made one final push.
Five quick points from Fagbemi quickly made it 63-59 before Caprise hit back-to-back buckets to give the Garnet a 67-59 lead with 35 seconds on the clock.  A Johansson three with 23 ticks left was followed by a Swarthmore turnover that led to an open look from the wing for Windley, but his three-pointer was off the mark and the Garnet withstood a pair of late Blue Jay shots to lock down the victory.
 
The opening nine minutes of the game saw the teams trade baskets as there were seven ties in the opening 8:28.  Neither team led by more than three during that time with the Blue Jays enjoying the only lead of that size at 13-10 after a Tommy O'Neil three-pointer from the corner.
 
Vinny DeAngelo answered the O'Neil triple with conventional three-point play to spark a 13-2 Swarthmore run that gave the Garnet a 23-15 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the opening half.  Caprise scored seven points during the run with DeAngelo's three-point play and an Paquette three accounting for the other six points.
 
The Blue Jays had the lead down to four on a pair of Fagbemi free throws and a dunk from Charlie Jackson in a 20-second span, but Caprise answered with back-to-back buckets to push the lead back to eight.  A Sidney Thybulle dunk and a pair of DeAngelo free throws accounted for a 29-21 Swarthmore lead at the break.  As it turned out, it was a lead the Garnet would never surrender.
 
Caprise was named the most outstanding player of the tournament as he posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while DeAngelo added 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
 
Johansson led the Blue Jays with 14 points, while Fagbemi and Windley added 13 points apiece.