SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – Nineteen seconds.  That's how long it took Johns Hopkins' Logan Feller to answer a game-opening Nicholas Ortiz jumper with a three-pointer that gave the Blue Jays an early 3-2 lead on Illinois Tech in their second game at the Puerto Rico Clasico at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
 
Those 19 seconds were the only 19 that the Scarlet Hawks would hold the lead as Feller's three-pointer gave Johns Hopkins the lead for good and the Blue Jays would lead for the final 39:09 in a 75-50 victory.  The win bumps the 22^nd-ranked (D3hoops.com) Blue Jays' record to 7-2, while Illinois Tech slips to 4-7.
 
Johns Hopkins, which played 16 players in the game and had 13 of those 16 find the scoring column, held the lead steady between one and seven points throughout the first nine minutes of the game before closing the first half with a 23-7 run that extended a 15-8 lead to 38-15 at the break.
 
Freshman Teagan Swint ignited the game-deciding spree with a three-pointer at the 10:53 mark and later capped a 14-0 spurt that was part of the larger 23-7 run with another triple with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half.  Five different players scored for the Blue Jays during the 14-0 run with Swint's six points leading the way.  The Blue Jay defense harassed the Scarlet Hawks into missing all seven of their shots while they also turned the ball over five times as they went empty on 12 consecutive trips before an Owen Walsh three-pointer finally stopped the 14-point spurt.
 
Johns Hopkins, which led 29-8 after Swint's second triple, never let the first-half lead dip below 18 in the final five minutes of the first half and grabbed the 38-15 halftime lead on a Wyatt Eglinton Manner jumper just before the buzzer.
 
The Blue Jay lead would swell to as many has 28 twice in the second half, the first time on a Tanti Felli dunk early in the half that made it 43-15 and the last on another Swint three-pointer with 11:25 on the clock.  Illinois Tech would trim the deficit under 20 briefly late in the game before the Blue Jays closed with Tait Christensen and Gil Otoo buckets in the final 75 seconds to seal the 25-point victory.
 
Nick Klaiber (11) and Feller (10) led a balanced Blue Jay offense that saw seven different players score at least seven points.  Eglinton Manner and Charlie Jackson both collected nine rebounds as Johns Hopkins held a 44-18 advantage on the glass; 14 of those 44 rebounds came on the offensive end and the Blue Jays turned those into a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points.
 
John Davis III (11) and Omar Salman (10) both scored in double figures for Illinois Tech as they combined to hit 8-of-12 shots from the floor, but the remainder of the team was a combined 11-of-42 as the Scarlet Hawks dropped their third straight.
 
The Blue Jays will return to action on Wednesday, December 31 when they welcome Babson to Goldfarb Gymnasium for a non-conference game against the Beavers.
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