OWINGS MILLS, Md. – For the first time in over 16 years, Stevenson and Johns Hopkins met in men's basketball. With the rivalry renewed, the Blue Jays (5-5) took a 78-72 decision over the Mustangs (6-5) Saturday afternoon.
 
Stevenson stood toe-to-toe with their foes from the Centennial, with Mason Jones scoring a game-high 27 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Ronald Ayers scored 12 for Stevenson, who nearly saw every player on the roster see action on Saturday.
 
Hopkins got 23 from Charlie Jackson in the win, with Brian Johansson scoring 17.
 
The stats were almost symmetrical as Hopkins had one more field goal than Stevenson (24 to 23), but, converted four more foul shots than Stevenson. Both teams combined for 60 foul shots on the afternoon.
 
Johns Hopkins had a 41-30 lead on the glass
 
Hopkins landed the early right cross, taking a 9-0 lead with 16:31 left in the opening half before Stevenson countered back. The Mustangs, following a mass substitution, responded with an 8-0 scoring run as Kendall Seguignol had five points during the run.
 
Johns Hopkins maintained the lead, but, could not get it higher than seven as Stevenson remained close. The Mustang took their first lead at 25-24 with 3:43 left in the first as Jones hit a driving layup. The lead got no higher than two, before Hopkins answered back. Stevenson tied the score at 30-all at intermission as Bryson Whitley scored just before the buzzer.
 
Stevenson forced ten Blue Jay turnovers in the first half, turning that into ten points.
 
In the second half, Stevenson took a five-point lead twice with the last time coming at 16:13 when Ayers hit a jumper to make the score 39-34. From there, Hopkins went on a 13-2 run over a span of 2:30 to go up 47-41. Still, Stevenson did not let the deficit get too high and recaptured the lead at 53-52 with 10:11 left in the game on a basket by Jones.
 
Hopkins took the lead for good with 7:11 left in the game, with Stevenson only get able to get within one several times.
 
With non-conference play complete, the Mustangs open MAC Commonwealth action on Wednesday at Eastern.