ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in a 69-65 setback against Muhlenberg on Tuesday night in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
Senior Ryan Hughes led the Bears with a team-high 14 points while sophomore Cole Grubbs added 13 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Freshman Nick Nocito added nine points, seven assists, and three steals in his first collegiate start.
 
 
The Mules jumped out to an early 8-3 advantage at the 16:52-mark after a slow start from the field for the Bears. Ursinus began to find a rhythm on offense and used a 9-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 12-10 with 12:59 left in the first half. The Bears took its largest lead of the half at 18-14 before Muhlenberg put together 15 unanswered points and went up 27-18 at the 6:10-mark. Grubbs ended a 4:09 scoreless stretch for the Bears with a layup which started a 9-0 run that put Ursinus back in front at 29-27 with 3:36 left in the first half. Grubbs then put the Bears in front 31-30 at the half following a layup with 24 seconds remaining.
 
 
Much like the start of the first half, it was the Mules that came out strong by using an 11-2 run to take a 41-33 lead at the 16:14-mark. Ursinus battled back with eight-straight points to tie the game at 41 before the Mules stretched its advantage back out to five points at 48-43 with 12:49 left in the second half. The Bears responded again with a quick 7-2 burst to knot the score at 50 but was countered by five-straight Mules points to put Muhlenberg up 55-50 at the 10:05-mark. Ursinus continued the game of runs with six unanswered points and took their first lead of the second half at 56-55 with 7:55 left in regulation. Muhlenberg then took the lead back with a three-pointer and went up 62-59 at the 4:23-mark of the second half. Ursinus got within one point of the Mules on four separate occasions in the final four minutes of the contest but was unable to either tie or take the lead back.
 
 
The Bears shot 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field and just 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from three-point range. Ursinus also went 14-of-22 (63.6%) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, the Mules shot 40.9 percent (27-of-66) from the field and 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from beyond the arc. Muhlenberg went 9-of-12 (75%) from the free throw line and held a slight 41-40 edge in rebounds.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, December 3rd as they will head on the road again to take on McDaniel at 3 p.m.