COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a dominant second half, the Ursinus Men's Basketball team entered the holiday break with a 73-49 triumph over Immaculata in non-conference action at Helfferich Hall on Saturday afternoon.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 7-1 overall and continued one of their best starts in program history. Meanwhile, the Mighty Macs of the Atlantic East fell to 2-6 overall.
 
 
Seniors Kyle Maurer and Ryan Hughes paced a balanced scoring attack for the Bears with each scoring 11 points. Hughes came just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds while Maurer hit a trio of three-pointers. Sophomore Cole Grubbs completed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds plus adding a career-high four steals. Freshman Mohamed Toure added 10 points off the bench behind a trio of three-pointers of his own.
 
 
Each offense started slow on the afternoon as they combined for seven missed shots and six turnovers in the first 3:44 of the contest. The Mighty Macs jumped out to a 6-0 advantage before the Bears finally got going with eight-straight points of their own to take their first lead of the day at the 11:40-mark. Ursinus stretched its lead to 14-8 at the 9:24-mark of the first half until Immaculata struck back with five of their own to go up 15-14 with 7:02 left in the first half. The Bears defense stepped up after the Mighty Macs went ahead as they held them scoreless for a stretch of 5:08, allowing them to take an 18-15 advantage at the 3:12-mark. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes, but it was Hughes that gave the Bears some momentum by converting a three-point play with one second left, giving them a 26-21 at the half.
 
 
Ursinus opened the second half completely opposite from the first half as they broke the game wide open with a 25-5 run to go up 51-26 at the 11:49-mark. The Bears shot 60 percent (10-of-15) during that stretch and 3-5 from three-point range. Ursinus continued to dominate on defense as well by holding the Mighty Macs to go just 2-of-5 from the field during the first nine minutes and forced six turnovers. The Bears built their lead up to as many as 32 points and did not let the lead drop under 20 points for the remainder of the contest.
 
 
The Bears went 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field behind shooting 51.4 percent in the second half. Ursinus went 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from beyond the arc and a solid 8-of-10 (80%) from the free throw line. The Bears forced 23 Mighty Mac turnovers that led to 24 turnovers and held a 35-30 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Mighty Macs shot 39.1 percent (18-of-46) from the field and just 16.7 percent (2-of-12) from beyond the arc. Immaculata went 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line and forced 17 Bear turnovers.
 
 
Tyler Tillery led the Mighty Macs with a game-high 13 points and team-high six rebounds. Brandon Perez added 12 points behind scoring eight points in the final 2:50 of the game.
 
 
 
The Bears return to action on Thursday, December 29^th as they will take on DeSales in the Al Senavitis Holiday Tournament, hosted by the Bulldogs, at 5:00 p.m.