Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. – Despite slashing a 15-point halftime deficit down to one and getting a career effort from freshman Luke McCartin, the Swarthmore College men's basketball team dropped a 60-53 decision to Johns Hopkins on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Goldfarb Gym.

After a slow start, Swarthmore caught fire in the second half and scored 14 straight to make it 34-33 and force the Blue Jays to take a timeout with 12:53 remaining in regulation. Freshman Michael Rubayo helped kickstart the big run by setting up a Seth Liebert 3-pointer for the team's first field goal nearly four minutes into the frame and following with a layup. McCartin closed the stretch with five straight points by draining a trey and driving in for a layup.

Johns Hopkins was able to regroup and responded with a 7-0 run to move ahead by a 41-33 score, but the Garnet continued to fight to the very end. After a layup by junior Omar Randall extended the Blue Jay lead back up to double figures at 47-36, Swarthmore came back and got another 3-pointer from McCartin and only trailed 51-47 with just over five minutes left.

But that was as close as the Garnet would come, as sophomore Niko Kotoulas put the game out of reach by finishing a 3-point play the old-fashioned way that gave the Blue Jays a 55-47 cushion with under two minutes left. A layup by senior Jay Kober in the waning seconds sealed the final outcome.

Johns Hopkins (13-8, CC 10-4), which made five of its first six attempts from long range, led throughout the game and burst out to a 9-3 advantage after getting a 3-pointer by junior Jimmy Hammer from the right corner. Sophomore Gene Williams later followed with a trifecta to put the hosts ahead, 16-8, with 13:39 left in the first frame before nailing another shot from downtown that put the Blue Jays up by twin figures for the first time at 23-12.

The hosts continued to stay in control for the remainder of the half, as a Hammer 3-pointer prompted a Garnet timeout with 4:52 left the hosts ahead by a 32-16 score. Senior Joe Keedy ended a Garnet field goal drought that lasted more than seven minutes with a layup at the 1:09 mark to make it 34-19 at recess.

McCartin netted a career-high 14 points by shooting 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-8 from long range to pace Swarthmore in the losing effort. Liebert scored 11 off the bench, while Keedy had a solid performance with nine points, seven boards and four assists.

Kotoulas scored 14 points off the bench to pace Johns Hopkins. Williams finished with 10 points and junior George Bugarinovic provided eight points to go along with four helpers.

Swarthmore (6-15, CC 3-11) will play its first of four remaining regular season games when it visits Muhlenberg on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.