HAVERFORD, PA – The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team used a 16-5 run late in the second half to overcome a five-point deficit before going on to beat host Haverford, 66-59, in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays improve to 11-8 overall and 8-4 in the conference, while the Fords slip to 6-11 and 2-10 in the CC. With the win, Hopkins remains tied with Muhlenberg for fourth in the CC standings.

Hopkins trailed 52-47 with 7:57 to play when Anthony Reyes hit a three-pointer to cap a 12-2 Fords' run. It was the home team's first lead of the game. The Blue Jays responded with back-to-back triples by senior Daniel Corbett and junior Jimmy Hammer, sandwiched around a James Levine lay-up, and it was 54-53 Haverford with 4:54 to go. Hammer and Brett Cohen traded baskets and then junior Luke Chambers hit a pair of free throws to put Hopkins up 57-56 with 3:10 on the clock.

Sophomore Austin Vasiliadis followed an empty Fords' possession with a pair of free throws to extend the Jays' lead to three. Garrett Johnson hit the back-end of two shots from the charity stripe at 2:08 to make it a 61-57 game. But back-to-back buckets by junior George Bugarinovic and Vasiliadis gave Hopkins a six-point advantage with just 1:07 to play. Cohen would cut the deficit to four with a lay-up at the 27-second mark but the Blue Jays were able to seal the win at the free throw line.

After a back-and-forth game early, Hopkins pushed out to an eight-point lead with an 11-3 run, fueled by three-pointers from Corbett, sophomore Gene Williams and Hammer. With Haverford trailing 13-5, Gibby Graves scored six unanswered points to make it just a two-point game with 11:25 to play in the opening half. But the Blue Jays came right back with a 10-2 burst to push out to a 10-point lead less than three minutes later. Sophomore Matt Chiusano did much of the damage, scoring six of the Jays' 10 points during the spurt.

With Hopkins leading 25-15 with 7:38 to play following a pair of free throws by junior Connor McIntyre, Haverford put together one last run to end the half. The Fords scored eight unanswered points to get with two at 25-23 with 1:16 to play in the half. But Vasiliadis would knock down back-to-back layups in the final 62 seconds to give Hopkins a 29-23 lead at the break.

Coming out of the half, Haverford got buckets from Lucas Colombo and Matt Sherman to trim the deficit to two. But once again Hopkins came right back with lay-ups from Hammer and McIntyre followed by a bucket from downtown by Williams and just like that the lead was nine at the 16:07-mark. The teams traded buckets and Hopkins led 40-32 with 13:53 to go. Haverford then got back-to-back jumpers from Johnson and the lead was just two. But five straight points by Williams, broken up by a Reyes triple, gave Hopkins a 45-40 lead. The Fords answered with that 12-2 run to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point lead. But as it turned out, that would be the last run the Fords had in them.

Williams led the Blue Jays with 13 points while Hammer added 12 as the only two Blue Jays in double figures. McIntyre blocked a game-high five shots while also grabbing seven boards and chipping in eight points. Graves led the Fords with 13 points, while Colombo added 11 and eight rebounds.

Hopkins returns home and will host Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday, February 5. Tip-off for the CC match-up is slated for 8:00 pm.