BALTIMORE, Md.—Despite holding a slim advantage in both rebounding and field goal shooting, Swarthmore College Men's Basketball fell on the road Tuesday night to the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays.Swarthmore, now 10-3 on the year and 4-2 in the Centennial Conference, dropped the league game 60-49. Johns Hopkins improved to 7-6 (4-2 Centennial) with the victory. The Garnet trimmed an 11-point second-half deficit down to just two points with eight minutes remaining, but couldn't close the gap completely.Swarthmore out-rebounded Johns Hopkins 36-35. From the floor, the Garnet went 21-for-53 (39.6 percent) and the Blue Jays checked in at 19-for-52 (36.5 percent). The Blue Jays did make two more 3-pointers than the Garnet (7-5).
The biggest disparity came from the free-throw line. Johns Hopkins took 26 attempts while Swarthmore only had four for the entire game, by far a season low. The previous low for the Garnet was 13 attempts. Hopkins went 15-for-26 (57.7 percent) while Swarthmore went 2-for-4. Eight of Hopkins' attempts came within the final two minutes of action.
Guard
Matt Brennan led the Garnet with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting (4-for-10 from 3-point range). Forward
Chris Bourne added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting (71.4 percent) and four rebounds.
Robbie Walsh nearly had a double-double, notching nine points and nine rebounds.
The turnover bug hurt Swarthmore on Tuesday; the Garnet committed 18 turnovers to Hopkins' 10, a season-worst turnover-margin of -8. In the three losses this season, the Garnet have an average turnover margin of -6.7.
In a back-and-forth first half, Swarthmore led 19-18 with 5:05 to play after freshman
Christian Rhodes finished a layup in the paint. Hopkins took a time out and then went on a tear, dropping three 3-pointers in just over two minutes for a quick 9-0 run. The Blue Jays' lead reached 11 after Swarthmore went the first two minutes of the second period without a bucket.
Swarthmore chipped away with a 6-0 spurt. A layup by
Chris Bourne with 10:52 brought Swarthmore within two points, and after a Hopkins jump shot,
Sean Thaxter scored to make it a two-point game again with 8:22 remaining. The Garnet scored both of their free throws over the next four minutes but didn't get another field goal until
Henry Cousineau's layup with 4:14 to go.
The Blue Jays sank 3-pointers on their next two possessions, stretching their lead to nine with 2:55 to go. Swarthmore came as close as six the rest of the way, but couldn't pull off the comeback.
Swarthmore returns to the friendly confines of Tarble Pavilion, where the team is 6-0 on the year, for a matchup with Dickinson College on Thursday at 8 p.m.
