BALTIMORE, Md.- The No. 24 Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team (19-4, 8-3 Centennial Conference) were contained to a season-low 43 points in Saturday's 60-43 defeat at (RV) Johns Hopkins (17-6, 8-3 Centennial Conference). 

Steve Donahue led the offense with 13 points that included two triples. Kevin Nowoswiat totaled nine points, a team-best eight rebounds, and three assists. Franklin Jones recorded eight points, a team-high three steals, and six rebounds. Vakaris Grauslys had a team-high four assists, five points, and two steals. 

Donahue's jumper on F&M's first possession opened scoring in the contest, while the Blue Jays converted 1-of-2 free throws on their next possession to get on the scoreboard. A Jones offensive rebound and layup extended the Diplomats' lead to 4-1 through the first 2:15. The score stayed at that mark for almost two minutes, as Johns Hopkins converted their first field goal of the game with a layup with 15:54 to go. A Nowoswiat jumper pushed F&M ahead, 6-3, but the hosts followed this by scoring the next five points, claiming their first lead of the contest at 8-6 through a low-scoring opening eight minutes. 

A Bryson Amos-Whitfield jumper plus an and-one gave F&M a brief lead, as the Blue Jays rallied by scoring 14 unanswered points in a three-minute span to lead 22-9. Jones broke the run and a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Diplomats with a layup that cut the Blue Jays' lead in half at 22-11. With four minutes left in the period, Asad Syed snapped an 0-of-6 start on three-point attempts for F&M, while Nowoswiat reduced the deficit further with another triple to trail 24-17. F&M outscored the Blue Jays 4-2 in the remaining time, reducing what was a 12-point gap to five points at the halftime break. 

The Blue Jays were successful in the first half thanks to the 12 Diplomats turnovers they forced that included four steals. Both sides struggled beyond the arc across the first half, as F&M went 30.0% (3-of-10) and Johns Hopkins shot 16.7% (2-of-12). The Diplomats recovered from an 0-of-6 start on triples, converting 3-of-4 shots in the last four minutes. 

Donahue yet again opened scoring for F&M in the second half, drawing a foul on his layup and converting his and-one to cut the lead to two points. The Blue Jays earned some space by converting back-to-back layups. Nowoswiat broke a four-minute scoreless run for F&M with a layup, but Hopkins followed this by outscoring F&M 5-0 in a low-scoring four-minute spell to push their advantage to nine at 35-26. 

Layups from Donahue and Grauslys cut the lead to five points with ten minutes to go, but the Blue Jays followed this with a critical ten-point run over the next two minutes, reaching a 45-30 lead with eight minutes to play. F&M made one last charge over the next two minutes with a seven-point run that included a steal and fastbreak dunk from Bohdan Biekietov plus a Donahue triple, but Johns Hopkins regained momentum by scoring the next nine points to lead 54-37 with three minutes to go. They maintained that 17-point margin to the end of the contest.

Johns Hopkins shot efficiently in the second half, converting 42.2% (13-of-27) on their field goals and 37.5% (3-of-8) of their threes. Across the entire game, the Blue Jays made use of the 22 total turnovers they forced from F&M, converting 22 points from those chances. 

The loss ends a three-game winning streak in the series for the Diplomats, while the Blue Jays extended their home series winning streak to 11. 

The Diplomats host Dickinson on Wednesday, February 18th, at 8:00 p.m. to begin the final week of the regular season.