SWARTHMORE, PA – Sophomore George Bugarinovic scored a game-high 16 points and the Johns Hopkins men's basketball team never trailed in a 63-44 win at Swarthmore on Tuesday night in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays improve to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in the conference, while the Garnet fall to 3-11 and 2-5 in the CC.

Hopkins jumped out to an 8-0 lead and later pushed out to an 18-12 lead. Swarthmore pulled even at 20 points apiece with an 8-2 burst. Karl Barkley and Will Gates book-ended the run with a pair of three-pointers and force a Blue Jay timeout with 6:39 to play in the half.

Hopkins would close the half on a 12-4 run to take a 32-24 lead into the locker room. The Blue Jays got most of their points down the stretch from the charity stripe, going 8-of-9 in the final five minutes. Hopkins attempted just three field goals during that stretch as Swarthmore fouls kept sending the Jays to the line. The Garnet, meanwhile, went 1-of-10 from the field during the same stretch and got just two points off a pair of Jay Kober free throws.

Senior Mike Rhoads and junior Connor McIntyre scored back-to-back buckets to open the second half and stake the Blue Jays to a 12-point lead. The Garnet climbed back into it with a quick six-point spurt to make it a 36-30 game. Hopkins called timeout to stem the tide and it worked as Bugarinovic hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to halt the run. Sophomore Jimmy Hammer then hit a triple after a Garnet miss on the other end and the Blue Jays; lead was 11 points.

Swarthmore came right back, getting buckets from Ethan Lee and Seth Liebert to once again make it a six-point game. But that's as close as the Garnet could get to the Blue Jays, as they would outscore the Garnet 20-7 over the remainder of the game. McIntyre got the Blue Jays going with six points of their next 11 points to spark an 11-2 run. Hopkins didn't look back as it went on to win by 19 points.

Bugarinovic led all scorers with 16 points, while also grabbing five rebounds, dishing two assists and swiping a pair of steals. McIntyre added 14 points with a 5-of-9 showing from the field and a 4-of-4 performance from the line. Hammer also finished in double figures, punching up 12 points with two assists and one steal. Kober was the lone Garnet player to finish in double digits as he chipped in 12 points with an impressive 8-of-9 performance at the free throw line. Both teams were solid from the line on the night, as the Blue Jays went 15-of-16 from the charity stripe, while the Garnet went 12-of-13.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, January 12 as the Blue Jays host the Haverford Fords. Tip off for the Centennial Conference game is set for 3:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym.