BALTIMORE, MD – Visiting Ursinus beat Johns Hopkins, 89-79, in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon. The loss snaps the Blue Jays' nine-game win streak as they slip to 14-7 overall and 8-1 in the conference. The Bears improve to 13-8 on the season and 6-3 in the CC.
Hopkins cut a 12-point deficit to five with 96 seconds to play, thanks to a 9-2 run.
John Windley got things going with a step-back jumper, followed by a
Charlie Jackson bucket. Luke Neiman answered with a layup for the Bears, but a
Jeb Williams' triple and a pair of Jackson free throws made it to a 78-73 game. Ursinus responded with a 7-0 run to push its lead back to 12 just 40 seconds later.
The Blue Jays weren't going away and pulled back within eight with 46 ticks on the clock, thanks to a layup by Jackson and a pair of
Brian Johansson free throws. That's as close as Hopkins could get however as Ursinus closed the game with a 4-2 spurt to secure the win.
JHU took an early 3-0 lead off an old-fashioned three-point play from Jackson, but a 13-6 spurt from Ursinus grabbed the lead for the visitors. The Blue Jays scored six unanswered in a 95-second span to go up 15-13 with 12:40 to play in the half. Jamie Murphy then drained a three-pointer to spark a 10-2 run for the Bears as they went up 23-17. Another 6-0 run by the Blue Jays knotted the score at 23 with 6:29 to go.
The teams went back-and-forth over the ensuing three minutes and it was 33-30 Ursinus after a
Tanti Felli layup. The Bears then went on a 13-5 run, that bridged halftime, and saw them go up 46-35 just one minute into the second. The Blue Jays got four quick points to pull back within seven. Ursinus then used a methodical 16-5 run, that spanned just over four minutes and saw the Bears go 6-of-7 from the field, to push out to a 62-44 lead.
Trailing 65-48 with 10:39 to play, the Blue Jays got back-to-back three-pointers from Johansson and Jackson to ignite an 11-0 run. Windley capped the run with a bucket from downtown to slice the deficit to six just four minutes later. The Bears answered again, this time with an 11-5 run, to go back up by 12 with 3:20 to play. JHU had one more run left in them, that 9-2 spurt that saw the deficit trimmed to five with 96 seconds to play.
Johansson and Windley led the Blue Jays with 17 points each, while Jackson added 16 points. Johansson also grabbed five rebounds and handed out four assists. Jackson and Williams had seven rebounds each for JHU, which won the rebound battle, 43-33. Wall led all scorers with 25 points, along with six steals. Nick Nocito scored 20 points and handed out seven assists, while Luke Nieman added 15 points.
Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, February 12 as the Blue Jays visit the McDaniel Green Terror. The Centennial Conference contest is scheduled for an 8:00 pm start.
