SWARTHMORE, PA – The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team went 9-of-12 from the line in the final 75 seconds to secure a 69-65 win at Swarthmore Thursday night in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays have now won seven straight as they improve to 9-4 overall and 6-1 in the conference. The Garnet fall to 8-6 and 5-2 in the CC.
 
Leading by just six with 1:15 to play, Hopkins got a pair of free throws from freshman Brayden Fagbemi and junior John Windley on back-to-back possessions to push its lead just 11 seconds later. Swarthmore wasn't going away however and answered with seven points in just eight seconds to slice the deficit to just three with 46 seconds to play.
 
Windley came back on the other end with one of two free throws and then a Vinny DeAngelo layup made it a two-point game with nine seconds on the clock. Sophomore Charlie Jackson responded with two from the line to push the lead back to four and then junior Brian Johansson intercepted a Devin Burger pass to end the game.
 
Just like so many of the meetings between these two in the last five years, this one was close from the opening tip. The Blue Jays twice took a five-point lead early but could not pull away as each time the Garnet answered. From the 11-minute mark in the first until the final 60 seconds, neither team led by more than two points as they traded baskets. Windley finally gave Hopkins some separation with a bucket from downtown to send the Blue Jays into the half with a 26-21 lead.
 
The teams picked up right where they left off in the second, swapping scores and JHU led 36-35 at the 13:44-mark. Fagbemi then drained a pull-up jumper to spark a 14-5 run that saw the Jays grab an 11-point lead four and a half minutes later. Four Blue Jays scored during the run, which was capped by a steal and score by freshman Jeb Williams. That would be the only real run of the game as it went right back to a back-and-forth affair. The lead would see-saw between 11 and six points over the ensuing eight minutes and that set the stage for the exciting finish.
 
Windley led Hopkins with 19 points, including going 3-of-4 from downtown, and grabbed four rebounds. Fagbemi finished with 18 points, with a 7-of-8 showing from the charity stripe, to go with a team-high six rebounds and two assists. Graduate student Carson James chipped in 10 points and two steals. DeAngelo led all scorers with 23 points, all in the second half, and four assists. Michael Caprise finished with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Cal Hanson also finished in double figures with 10 points and seven boards.
 
Hopkins returns to Goldfarb Gym on Saturday, January 13 to host Haverford. The Centennial Conference contest is slated for a 3:00 pm tip.
 
Notes: James now needs just 47 points to reach 1,000 for his career • Sidney Thybulle moved into 10^th place in JHU history with 527 career rebounds.