Junior Jeff Stewart had a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds, and classmate Chris Huber added a career-high 20 points, but it

Stewart notched his 29th career double-double despite Lehigh’s height advantage. The three centers he went up against are 6-9, 6-10 and 7-0.

wasn’t enough as the Muhlenberg men’s basketball team fell at

Mefford had three assists and no turnovers in 25 minutes. He also scored four points.

Division I Lehigh, 80-70.

The Mountain Hawks (7-8) used a fast-paced, high-pressure scheme to jump out to a 13-3 lead, but the Mules (5-5), playing for the first time in more than two weeks, minimized their turnovers as the game progressed. Muhlenberg came within five, at 22-17, after junior Brandon Mefford hit a pair of free throws, but Lehigh went on a 13-2 run to push the lead up to 16 and went into the half ahead 13 at 37-24.

Lehigh went up by as many as 24 in the second half at 68-44. Muhlenberg used a combination of good ball movement and an inside physical presence to get back into the game. Stewart and Huber scored 22 points during a 26-12 run over the final 9:18. The Mules outrebounded the Hawks 15-5 during that stretch. Muhlenberg outscored Lehigh 46-43 in the second half, after recording just 24 first-half points.

Huber’s 20 points came in just 22 minutes as he shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. Senior Jimmy O’Brien added six points, eight boards and three steals.

“We learned a lot about our players today,” said Stewart, who recorded the highest point total allowed by Lehigh this season. “It was a good opportunity for us to go up against guys that were bigger and stronger than us. We knew that if we could bang around with these guys and keep it close, we could hang with anyone in our conference. Now we have confidence moving forward.”

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