HAVERFORD, PA – The 20^th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's basketball team held off an upset-minded Haverford squad, 70-67, on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays improve to 18-5 overall and 14-2 in the conference, while the Fords fall to 4-19 on the season and 1-15 in the league.
 
Trailing 68-61 after a Jeb Williams layup with 2:05 to play, the host Fords got four straight points from Gabriel Franklin and a Gaven Marr jumper to slice the deficit to just one with 32 seconds on the clock. The teams traded empty possessions before sophomore Charlie Jackson drained a pair of free throws to put the Blue Jays up 70-67 with 11 seconds to play. As it turns out that was the final points of the game as JHU held on for the win.
 
The game didn't look like it would come down to the wire in the early going as Hopkins jumped out to a 16-4 lead just five and a half minutes in. Junior Brian Johansson fueled the early scoring with 10 of the Blue Jays' 16 points. The Fords responded with a 15-1 run, capped by back-to-back triples from Marr and Franklin, and Haverford led 19-17 at the 8:22-mark.
 
Junior John Windley and Williams led Hopkins on an 8-2 run as the Blue Jays went in front 25-21 just three minutes later. The Fords came right back with a pair of Nicholas Stewart free throws and a Brandon Banadda layup and just like that it was a tie game. Windley responded with five straight points to put Hopkins on top 30-35, but Franklin answered with five straight for the Fords and it was 30-all with 1:1 to play. Johansson had the final say of the half, making one of two free throws to send JHU into the break with a 31-30 lead.
 
The second half was much of the same as the teams traded buckets over the opening seven minutes. Hopkins was able to gain some distance thanks to a Williams jumper and a Brayden Fagbemi three-pointer that put JHU up 53-45 with 12:12 to play. Haverford sliced the deficit in half however with back-to-back layups from Logan Brown. Hopkins answered with a 9-3 spurt to push out to a 62-52 lead at the 5:11-mark.
 
Haverford wasn't going away however as the Fords pulled to within three just three minutes later. Fagbemi stemmed the tide with a bucket in the paint, followed by a Williams' layup and the lead was seven with 2:05 on the clock. That set the stage for a thrilling ending at Gooding Arena.
 
Windley led four Blue Jays in double figures with 20 points, his seventh 20-point game of the season. Fagbemi finished with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. He also dished a game-high eight assists and grabbed two steals. Johansson scored 14 points and blocked two shots, while Williams added 12 points and eight boards.
 
Marr paced the Fords with 20 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Franklin finished with 19 points, while Brown added 12 points and six rebounds. Banadda also finished in double figures with 10 points, to go with seven rebounds and four assists.
 
Hopkins is back on the road on Wednesday, February 14 as the Blue Jays travel to Washington College. Tip-off at Finnegan Court is slated for 8:00 pm.