For the second straight game, the Muhlenberg men's basketball team staged a comeback effort in the second half, but could not overcome a halftime deficit on the road against an undefeated Centennial Conference team.

Two days after scoring 55 second-half points against 12th-ranked Swarthmore, the Mules did it with defense this time, holding Johns Hopkins to 27.6-percent shooting and 25 points in the final 20 minutes. Although Muhlenberg (1-6, 0-3) cut a 17-point gap to six, the Blue Jays (7-0, 3-0) held on for a 66-55 win.

Senior JeanLee Baez led the Mules with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Freshman Spencer Duke scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the second half, and sophomore Matt Gnias also reached double figures with 10 points.

Hopkins shot 58.6 percent in the first half to take a 13-point lead into the locker room. The margin swelled to 17 in the first five minutes of the second half and was 16 (52-36) at the 11-minute mark before Muhlenberg made its move.

A three-point basket and old-fashioned three-point play by Duke (pictured above) were part of a 10-0 run that brought the Mules to within six. Muhlenberg held Hopkins without a field goal for a stretch of more than five minutes.

The spread was six points, 60-54, after a pair of Gnias free throws with 3:07 remaining, but the Mules did not make a field goal the rest of the game.

Junior Erik Werheim scored eight points and blocked a shot for the Mules.