OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Stevenson University men's basketball team snapped a seven-game losing streak on Wednesday night, as the Mustangs (7-11, 1-6 MAC Commonwealth) defeated Messiah (3-15, 2-5 MAC Commonwealth) 71-58.
 
The Mustangs broke open a 20-20 halftime stalemate and erupted for 51 points in the second half, converting on nine three-pointers on 11 attempts in the final 20 minutes.
 
Kole Beaman came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point line. Ronald Ayers had 13 points with Mason Jones scoring ten.
 
Messiah was led by 16 points from Cole Fisher and 11 points off the bench from Cameron Thompson.
 
Jones had a double-double with ten rebounds, eight of which came on the defensive side of the glass. He also had two steals on the evening, with Joey Lutz corralling three steals for Stevenson. Beaman, in addition to his game-high in points, also had a team-best four blocks.
 
Messiah took the lead in the first half, jumping out a 9-3 edge with 13:14 left to go, as Jordan Saliu-Edwards sank a layup. Stevenson took its first lead of the game at 15-14 on a pair of foul shots with 2:31 left.
 
In the second half, Stevenson pulled away on a 10-0 near the midway part of the second stanza as the Mustangs went up 45-35 with 9:09 left on a three-pointer by Beaman. The Mustangs held the lead and expanded it to as much as 15 points with 1:07 left on two foul shots by Cameron Sapienza.
 
With the end of the first cycle of league games now in the rear-view mirror, Stevenson begins the final seven games of league play on Saturday at Widener.