BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team saw 13 players score as the Blue Jays used a balanced attack to defeat the visiting Kenyon Lords, 80-45, in the 24th annual Blue Jay Invitational Friday night. The Blue Jays win their fifth straight as they improve to 8-2 overall and advance to the championship game. The Lords slip to 4-6 on the season and will play in the consolation game. Senior George Bugarinovic led the Blue Jays with his first double double of the season and 15th of his career.
Leading by five early after a three-pointer by junior Austin Vasiliadis, the Blue Jays saw their lead evaporate in just 50 seconds as the Lords got a triple from Tim Connolly and a Connor Garrity bucket in the paint to tie it at seven-all with 15:32 to play in the first half. Hopkins retook the lead on a Bugarinovic layup to kick-start a quick 7-2 spurt as JHU took a 14-9 lead at the 13:16-mark.
Kenyon pulled back within two just one minute later, but the a 13-2 run by the Jays saw the home team push out to a 27-15 advantage. As was the story all game, four different Blue Jays scored during the run as Hopkins led by 12 with 7:51 to go. The Lords weren't going away and chipped away at the deficit, cutting it to seven with 3:25 to play in the half. Hopkins had the final say of the half however as Bugarinovic scored the final three points to send JHU into the break with a 34-24 lead.
Hopkins picked up right where it left off in the second scoring 10 unanswered points to double its 10-point halftime lead. Sophomore Ryan Curran got things going with a layup under the basket just 11 seconds in. Omar Randall then hit a layup and Curran followed with a three from the top of the key to prompt a Kenyon timeout. Bugarinovic capped the run with an old-fashioned three-point play to put Hopkins up 44-24.
Kenyon got four quick points to cut the deficit to 16 but a five-point possession for Hopkins swelled the lead to 21 with 14:18 to play. Curran hit a layup and drew a foul and then a technical foul on the Lords. Senior Jimmy Hammer drained the free throws on the technical and Curran hit his as well to total the five points. Brien Comey drained a jumper on the other end for Kenyon to start a quick 6-2 spurt for the Lords as they made it a 17-point game. But on the Blue Jays next possession, Hammer drained a three from the corner off a Nikhil Panu inbounds pass and the lead was back to 20.
Junior Niko Kotoulas pushed the lead to 21 with one of two free throws before a Dan Voigt basket made it a 55-36 game with 10:27 to go. That is as close as the Lords would get for the remainder of the game as the lead swelled to as much as 37 in the final minute.
Bugarinovic led the Blue Jays with 18 points and a game-high 12 boards. Hammer added 13 points and junior Luke Chambers put up a career-best 12 on 5-of-6 shooting. Vasiliadis handed out six assists to go with two steals and Hopkins turned it over just five times. Connolly led the Lords with a game-high 19 points and Comey chipped in 10 points and three blocks. The Blue Jays defense held the Lords to just 27.3 percent shooting for the game, including 24.2 in the second half when the Jays outscored them 46-21.
Hopkins will take on Hood, which beat Randolph 58-55, in the championship game on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym. Kenyon will face Randolph in the consolation game at 1:00 pm.