ALLENTOWN, PA – The 24th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's basketball team held off a late rally by host Muhlenberg to win 80-75 on Saturday night at Memorial Hall. The Blue Jays win their 12th straight as they improve to 15-2 overall and 9-1 in the Centennial Conference. The Mules slip to 8-9 on the season and 3-7 in the conference. Sophomore Ryan Curran led the Blue Jays with a career-high 19 points.
Leading by eight with 11:35 to play in the game after a Jesse Flannery trey, Hopkins saw its lead cut to just two four minutes later. Jon Schreer drained a three-pointer and then hit a pair of free throws to get the 8-2 run going. Nick Rindock closed out the run by hitting one of two free throws and Hopkins led 59-57 with 7:31 on the clock. The Blue Jays answered with back-to-back layups from Curran and senior Luke Chambers to go back up six.
The teams then traded scores and Hopkins held a 62-56 lead with 5:36 to play. Curran then hit the front end of a pair of free throws and senior Jimmy Hammer hit a bucket from downtown to push the Blue Jays' lead to seven. A free throw each from Brandon LaRose and Owen McLeod made it a five-point game, but two Curran free throws and an Austin Vasiliadis layup and lead was back to nine at the 2:18-mark.
The Mules and the Blue Jays exchanged buckets over the ensuing 90 seconds and Hopkins was up 77-70 as the clock ticked under a minute. Muhlenberg cashed in on a Hopkins turnover and the lead was just five with 19 seconds to go. That's as close as the Mules would get however as the Blue Jays went three of four from the line to secure the win.
Hopkins jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and was ahead 10-5 before Muhlenberg put together an 11-5 spurt to take a 16-15 lead. LaRose and Rindock sandwiched buckets around a George Bugarinovic layup to spark the run. Rindock then capped the run with a jumper at 10:07 to put the Mules up 16-15. Junior Gene Williams swung the lead back to the Blue Jays' favor with a three-pointer, but John Hunter tied it with a bucket in the paint on the ensuing possession.
Williams put Hopkins back on top with a layup and the lead grew to four after Bugarinovic drained a pair of shots from the charity stripe. The lead seesawed up and down from four to one and back to three. Leading 32-29 with 2:20 to go in the half, Hammer and Curran hit back-to-back buckets and the lead was seven. Malique Killing answered with a layup for the Mules, but the Jays answered with five straight points to take a 41-31 lead into the lockerroom.
Hopkins and Muhlenberg went back-and-forth to open the second and three times Mules cut the deficit to six. But each time the Blue Jays answered and pushed their lead to nine on an Omar Randall three with 14:32 to play. Muhlenberg used a 6-2 spurt to made it a five-point game less than three minutes later. Flannery then hit his three from the top of the key and Hopkins led 57-49 at the 11:35-mark.
Curran led the Blue Jays with his 19 points and a career-high-tying nine rebounds. Hammer finished with 18 points and Bugarinovic added 15. Rindock scored a game-high 24 points, leading four Mules in double figures. Hopkins shot 53.8 percent from the field, including 56.5 percent in the second half, while Muhlenberg shot 50 percent.
Hopkins returns to action on Tuesday, January 27 as the Blue Jays host the McDaniel Green Terror. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 pm at Goldfarb Gym.