COLLEGEVILLE, PA – The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's basketball team beat host Ursinus, 85-76, on Saturday to close out the regular season. The Blue Jays' win, combined with a Gettysburg win over Swarthmore and a Franklin & Marshall win over McDaniel, makes Hopkins the top seed in next weekend's Centennial Conference Tournament.
 
The Blue Jays trailed for more than 21 minutes before a Sidney Thybulle three-point play put Hopkins on top 48-45. That and-one sparked an 11-4 run that saw the Jays go up 56-49 with 14:37 to play. Seniors Lincoln Yeutter and Carson James capped the run with back-to-back three-pointers. The teams went back-and-forth over the ensuing six minutes and Hopkins led 66-60 at the 8:42-mark.
 
Ursinus used a 5-1 spurt to trim the deficit to two just over two minutes later. Five straight points from Yeutter, followed by a Thybullle layup and just like that the lead was nine with 4:03 on the clock. The Bears pulled within four with 59.3 ticks on the clock, but the Blue Jays would go nine of 10 from the line to secure the win.
 
Ursinus opened the game on a 16-5 run, punctuated by back to threes from Nick Nocito and Mohamed Toure. Hopkins got six straight points from sophomore John Windley and Thybulle to pull back within five with 12:09 left in the half. The Bears came right back with a 10-3 run to push out to a 12-point lead on a Toure layup at 8:35. Trailing by 13 at the 4:45-mark, the Blue Jays got three straight threes from James, Windley and Nixon to slice the deficit to five.
 
The teams traded blows over the next two and a half minutes and it was a seven-point game. Hopkins closed the half with a Nixon triple and a Thybulle buzzer-beating layup to go into the half down just two at 39-37.
 
Six Blue Jays finished in double figures, led by Windley's 21 points, going 8-of-12 from the field to go with six rebounds. Yeutter scored 17 points, including a 3-for-4 showing from downtown. Thybulle posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, to go with three steals. James (11 points), Nixon (11 points) and sophomore Brian Johansson (10 points) also finished in double figures. Wall and Ryan Hughes scored 22 points apiece to lead the Bears.
 
Hopkins is the number one seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament for the second straight year and fifth time overall. JHU will play the winner of Ursinus and Muhlenberg on Friday, February 24 at Goldfarb Gym.