GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) scored a season-high 21 points, but a late Gettysburg rally came up short in a 73-63 loss to Johns Hopkins in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Wednesday evening in Bream Gym.
 
The Bullets (5-15, 3-10 CC) trailed by as much as 15 midway through the second half before Stewart fueled a 9-1 run to pull his team within six (57-51) with 6:09 left. However, the Blue Jays answered with the next five points, and Gettysburg was unable to get closer than seven the rest of the way.
 
Stewart scored 16 of his points in the second half while shooting 8-for-13 from the floor. Sophomore guard Danny Duffey (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) contributed 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting while senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) posted 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
 
Michael Gardner scored 21 points while shooting 6-for-12 from beyond the arc for Johns Hopkins (16-4, 10-3 CC), which won its sixth game in a row. Kyle Doran added 13 points and six rebounds for the Blue Jays while Conner Delaney and Harry O'Neil added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
 
The visitors raced out to a 17-6 lead to open the game and led 26-15 with 8:02 left in the first half. But that's when the Bullets got hot, closing the half on a 16-3 run to assume a 31-29 lead at the intermission. Stewart and Duffey kicked off the surge with back-to-back 3-pointers, and an old-fashioned 3-point play from England cut the deficit to one (27-26) with 5:10 on the clock. After a jumper from Delaney, England tied it up with a 3-pointer at the 2:00 mark. He then gave the Bullets a 31-29 halftime lead when he finished off a nifty pass in transition from sophomore guard Joey Carroll (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) with three ticks showing.
 
England led all Bullets with eight points in the opening half while Gardner led Hopkins with 12 points, shooting 4-for-9 from long range.
 
Johns Hopkins took the lead for good (34-31) on a triple from Gardner with 18:52 left. The Blue Jays then opened up some breathing room with a 12-0 run over a four-and-half minute span midway through the half, making it 50-35 with 11:08 remaining.
 
Gettysburg fought back once again, however, with freshman forward Avery Close (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) kicking off the Bullets' 9-1 run with a lay-up at the 8:16 mark. Stewart scored the final seven points of the surge on a 3-pointer and back-to-back hook shots that made it a six-point game.
 
After the Blue Jays pushed their lead back to 13, Gettysburg used a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) and a conventional 3-point play from Stewart with 2:09 left to make it 66-59. But Doran was fouled shooting a 3-pointer at the other end, and he would go 3-for-3 at the line. The Blue Jays would pull away as Delaney went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe on Hopkins' final two possessions.
 
The Bullets return to Centennial Conference action on Saturday, when they visit Haverford at 3 p.m.