The Basics
• Score: Johns Hopkins-86, Gettysburg-56
• Records: JHU (12-5, 9-1 CC) • GC (4-13, 3-7 CC)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • Goldfarb Gym
• The Short Story: The Johns Hopkins men's basketball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back in an 86-56 win over visiting Gettysburg Saturday afternoon.
 
How it Happened
• Seniors Michael Gardner and Noah Ralby combined for the game's first seven points as the Blue Jays jumped on the Bullets early. Avery Close got the visitors on the board with a free throw, and following a Joey Fitzpatrick layup, Jack Rooney drained a three and it was a 9-4 game with 16:42 to play in the first.
• Sophomore Joey Kern hit a bucket in the paint on the other end, sparking an 11-0 run that saw Hopkins' lead balloon to 16 just two minutes and 20 seconds later. Four different players combined to fuel the run, which was capped by five straight points from Gardner.
• Rooney ended the run with a four-point play after getting fouled on a three from the corner. The teams traded scoring possessions and the Blue Jays led 25-15 at the 12:47-mark. Another Kern bucket ignited another Blue Jay run, this one to the tune of 15-3, as Hopkins stormed out to a 37-15 lead with 9:39 to go. Gettysburg would get no closer than 18 the remainder of the half and the Jays led 48-26 at the break.
• The second half was more of the same as the Blue Jays opened the stanza with a 9-2 spurt to go up 29 just 2:16 in. The Bullets answered with back-to-back threes from Danny Bomberger to trim the deficit to 23, but that's as close as they would get. Hopkins would lead by as many as 35 before taking the 30-point win.  
 
What it Means
• Hopkins improves to 40-52 all-time against Gettysburg and has won five straight in the series. It is the Blue Jays' largest win in the series since a 92-51 win on January 14, 1998. It is also Hopkins' first 30-point win since a 63-31 win at Haverford on January 14, 2017.
• The Blue Jays remain in first place in the Centennial Conference standings, and now have a two-game lead on second-place Swarthmore and Ursinus.
 
Inside the Box Score
• Gardner led all scorers with 23 points in 27 minutes. He now has 962 career points, which is tied for 18^th in school history, and just 38 shy of the 1,000-point mark. Fitzpatrick grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Hopkins won the battle of the boards, 40-22.
• Freshman Tom Quarry finished with a career-best 16 points, going 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-3 from downtown, and five rebounds. Freshman Alex Schachne also had a career-high, putting up 10 points in just 18 minutes. The Blue Jay freshmen combined for 36 of the team's 86 points.
• Rooney led the Bullets with 12 points while Bombereger added 10.
 
Up Next
• Hopkins is back at Goldfarb Gym on Thursday, January 24 against Franklin & Marshall. The Centennial Conference contest is slated for an 8:00 pm tip.