CARLISLE, PA – The storyline going into Saturday's Johns Hopkins-Dickinson men's basketball game was all about the Blue Jays' spot in the upcoming Centennial Conference Tournament.  Not that the spot itself was in question, that was assured.  Where the Blue Jays would be seeded was the question.  The number two seed was theirs with a win.
 
As point after point piled up for senior Charlie Jackson, another storyline developed.  Would he break the Johns Hopkins single-game scoring record.  You know, the one that has stood for 73 years.  Or to be exact, 73 years and one day.
 
In the end, the Blue Jays got what they wanted, and needed; an 81-77 victory that locked up the number two seed.  For his part, Jackson fell one point short of Simeon Margolis' record of 44 points as he finished with 43, the second-best total in school history and a total that is tied for the fifth-best in Centennial Conference history.
 
Jackson also set a school single-game record with 20 made free throws.  Oh yeah, he also scored the 1,000^th point of his career early in the game.
 
The Blue Jays had, seemingly, grabbed control early in the second half with a 14-2 run that extended a 39-37 lead to 53-39 with just under 14 minutes remaining.  Jackson jump-started the run with a pair of free throws and he scored six points during the spurt with five different Blue Jays finding the net to help build the double-figure margin.
 
The Devils had the deficit under 10 at 53-44 after a Matt Mahoney triple with 12:53 on the clock, but really couldn't cut into the Blue Jay lead over the next seven minutes and a pair of Jackson free throws with exactly 5:00 on the clock gave JHU a 75-60 lead.
 
From there, the game seemingly went in two directions.  The Red Devils playing downhill and the Blue Jays playing uphill.
 
An Isaiah Redmond driving layup with 3:55 remaining ignited a stunning 17-4 Dickinson run that trimmed the 15-point deficit to two at 79-77 with less than a minute to play.  Edmond (8) and Cole Cosby (7) did a majority of the damage during the run for the Red Devils, who clamped down defensively and held the Jays to just one basket and a pair of free throws during the spree.
 
After a Wyatt Eglinton Manner miss with 23 seconds remaining, Edmond got to the basket again, but his offering was off the mark and Eglinton Manner's rebound and two free throws sealed the win and a bye into the semifinals of the upcoming Centennial Tournament.
 
Early on, it took 80 seconds for either team to score and it was a Jackson free throw that would ignite an 8-0 game-opening run for the Blue Jays, who would get six of their eight from Jackson during a spree that took just a tick under two minutes.
 
Dickinson would pull within 11-5, but another quick five-point run for the Blue Jays would extend the lead to 16-5, with the last two of those points coming at the line courtesy of Jackson, whose two free throws were the 999^th and 1,000^th points of his career.
 
Johns Hopkins maintained a multi-possession lead that ranged from six to 11 points for more than eight minutes after Jackson reached his milestone and the margin was 30-19 after a Logan Fuller triple for Johns Hopkins with 5:45 on the first-half clock, but the Red Devils would score 13 of the final 20 points of the first half to pull within 37-32 at the break.
 
Ryan Leskauskas (5) and Cole Cosby (4) combined for nine of the Devils' 13 points during the half-ending run and the Blue Jays hit just 2-of-8 from the field down the stretch to account for the five-point margin at halftime.
 
The Blue Jays would use the early 14-2 run in the second half to grab the control, or so it seemed.  In a game they would never trail, the Blue Jays needed every one of Jackson's 43 and the two Eglinton Manner free throws to seal it.
 
Jackson was joined in double figures by Jeb Williams (10) and he added a career-best 14 rebounds to go with his career-best 43 points.
 
Five players scored in double figures for Dickinson with Edmond and Dane Moran each scoring a team-high 15.
 
Johns Hopkins will host a Centennial Conference Semifinal on Friday, February 27 (6 pm).  The opponent will be determined by the winners of the first-round games on Tuesday, February 24.  The Blue Jays' semifinal game will start at 6 pm.
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