After picking two early fouls and only playing four first half minutes, Griffin scored his game-high 23 points in only 16 second-half minutes, hitting on 10-of-11 field goal attempts. As a team, the Blue Jays (14-4, 10-2) scored 40 points in the second period.
Griffin opened up the second half by connecting on 6-of-6 tries from the field and 3-of-4 attempts from the free throw line, helping expand the Hopkins lead to 69-51 with 10:38 remaining.
The Shoremen (9-10, 7-5) continued to whittle down the lead and peaked late in the second half with a 18-6 run, closing the gap to 81-77 with 1:23 remaining, fueled by seven points from senior Kyle Stem. A dunk by Griffin at 1:23 to make it 83-77 gave Hopkins all it would need for the victory.
Senior Jonathan Webb and Stem each added 24 points for Washington. Webb connected on 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc and pulled in nine rebounds. Stem hit on 8-of-14 chances from the field and handed out a team-high four assists.
Both teams combined for 53 personal fouls in the game. Washington made good on 68 percent (15-of-22) of its tries from the stripe, while the Blue Jays hit on 65 percent (22-of-34) of their attempts.
For the 14th time this season, Hopkins connected on over 50 percent of its attempts from the field, making 30-of-57 tries (52.6%).
Other Blue Jays to reach double figures were junior Danny Nawrocki with 16 points, and junior T.J. Valerio with 13 points. Junior Chris Morley pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds.
Hopkins is back in action on Wednesday, Feb.1, hosting the Garnet Tide of Swarthmore at 7 p.m.
JOHNS HOPKINS 85, WASHINGTON COLLEGE 81 WASHINGTON COLLEGE (9-10, 7-5 CC) Kyle Stem 8-14 5-5 24; Jonathan Webb 10-21 0-3 24; Joey Breslin 3-8 5-7 11; Travis Moore 4-10 0-1 9; Scott Polyniak 1-5 5-6 7; Dustin Abbate 1-3 0-0 2; Drew Hill 1-2 0-0 2; Todd Green 1-1 0-0 2; Eric Blumenthal 0-0 0-0 0; Tim Kohlrus 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Marshburn 0-0 0-0 0; Miguel Negron 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 15-22 81. JOHNS HOPKINS (14-4, 10-2 CC) Matt Griffin 10-11 3-8 23; Danny Nawrocki 7-11 2-5 16; T.J. Valerio 3-11 5-6 13; Scott Weisenfeld 1-1 6-6 8; Chris Morley 2-3 4-6 8; Terence Coppola 2-4 1-1 5; Doug Polster 2-5 0-0 4; Bobby Sharafeddin 1-6 1-2 4; Jeff Thompson 1-2 0-0 2; Zack Armen 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 30-57 22-34 85. Washington College............ 37 44 - 81 Johns Hopkins................. 45 40 - 85 3-point goals-Washington College 8-17 (Jonathan Webb 4-6; Kyle Stem 3-6; Travis Moore 1-2; Dustin Abbate 0-2; Joey Breslin 0-1), Johns Hopkins 3-8 (T.J. Valerio 2-2; Bobby Sharafeddin 1-3; Terence Coppola 0-1; Doug Polster 0-2). Fouled out--Washington College-Joey Breslin, Johns Hopkins-None. Rebounds-Washington College 37 (Jonathan Webb 9; Joey Breslin 9), Johns Hopkins 38 (Chris Morley 10). Assists-Washington College 11 (Kyle Stem 4), Johns Hopkins 17 (Scott Weisenfeld 5). Total fouls-Washington College 29, Johns Hopkins 24. A-400