COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Junior Trevor Wall made a game-winning layup with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to lift the Ursinus Men's Basketball team to an 88-87 win over Franklin & Marshall on Tuesday night at Helfferich Hall in their Centennial Conference opener.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 5-0 for what is believed to be the first time in school history and open Centennial Conference play 1-0. Meanwhile, the Diplomats fell to 3-2 overall and will start 0-1 in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
Wall led all scorers with a game-high 29 points behind going 9-of-17 from the field, 3-of-6 from three-point range, and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Wall also added a team-high seven rebounds and two assists in the win. Senior Ryan Hughes finished the game with 14 points and set career-highs with seven assists and four blocks in the win. Senior Kyle Maurer added 11 points behind scoring eight in the opening five minutes of the contest and grabbed two rebounds while sophomore Cole Grubbs recorded 10 points behind going 4-of-6 from the field and grabbed six rebounds.
 
 
Maurer got the Bears going by scoring the team's first five points as they jumped out to a 7-2 advantage at the 18:35-mark of the first half. The Diplomats made back-to-back baskets to pull within one at 7-6 before the Bears reeled off 11-straight points behind four-straight makes to take a 18-6 lead at the 14:50-mark of the first half. After the Diplomats scored five-straight points to cut the deficit down to 18-11, Ursinus put together another hot stretch with 10 unanswered points behind four-straight made baskets to take their largest lead of the game at 28-11 with 8:44 left in the first half. Seemingly on the ropes already, the Diplomats responded with a 15-3 run to get back into the game at 31-26 with 4:17 left in the first half. The Bears responded with six-straight points to take a 37-26 lead at the 3:14-mark, but Franklin & Marshall countered with an 11-3 run to make it a 40-37 game with six seconds left in the half. Wall gave the Bears some momentum to go into halftime with a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the score to 43-37.
 
 
The teams traded baskets to open the second half which left the Diplomats within two points at 46-44 in the first two minutes, the closest they had been since 17:03-mark of the first half. Ursinus built their lead back out to 52-47 before Franklin & Marshall took their first lead at 53-52 of the contest following back-to-back three-pointers with just under 15 minutes left in the second half. The Bears pushed back ahead at 61-54 with 11:50 left in the second half following a quick 9-1 run, but the Diplomats continued to fight back by with six-straight points of their own to make it 62-60. Ursinus went back up 68-60 at the 9:01-mark and held at least a two-possession lead until Franklin & Marshall pulled back within two points at 76-74 with 5:13 left in regulation. The Diplomats went ahead 79-78 at the 4:08-mark off a layup before four-straight free throw makes gave Ursinus back the lead at 82-79. Five-straight points then helped Franklin & Marshall surge ahead at 84-82 with 2:30 left in regulation. Wall put the Bears back in front by scoring the next four points off a layup and free throws to make it 86-84 with 1:20 left in the second half. Following each team missing a field goal on their next possessions, Omar Nichols put Franklin & Marshall ahead 87-86 with nine seconds left after converting a three-point play. Wall went coast to coast when the Bears got the ball back after the free throw, shaking off a defender and rolling in the eventual game-winning layup with 1.4 seconds remaining. The Diplomats were forced to inbound from the other end of the court and freshman Mohamed Toure broke up the inbounds pass to waste the final second away, locking up the win for the Bears.
 
 
The Bears shot 27-of-54 (50%) from the field and went 8-of-22 (36.4%) from three-point range. Ursinus went 26-of-34 (76.5%) from the free throw line and scored 23 points off 20 Diplomat turnovers. Meanwhile, Franklin & Marshall shot 44.4 percent (32-of-72) from the field and 40.0 percent (12-of-30) from three-point range. The Diplomats went just 11-of-21 (52.4%) from the free throw line and held a sizable 49-29 rebounding advantage that led to a 24-7 edge in second chance points.
 
 
John Seidman led the Diplomats with a team-high 23 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. Josh Parra narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds while Omar Nichols plus Jaylen Green each tallied 14 points apiece.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Tuesday, November 29th as they will travel to face Muhlenberg at 6 p.m.