CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team was defeated by DeSales 83-69 in the opening game of the Al Senavitis Memorial Tournament on Thursday evening.
 
 
Sophomore Marlin Wise led the way for the Bears with a career-highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds in for his first double-double in his first collegiate start. Senior Ryan Hughes added 13 points and five rebounds while freshman Mohamed Toure recorded 11 points behind going 5-of-6 from the field. 
 
 
The Bears started strong as they jumped out to a 7-2 advantage at the 18:39-mark after making their first three shots of the game. They continued their blazing hot start and built their lead out to as many as 11 points at 21-10 with 12:11 left in the first half. However, the Bulldogs used a 17-7 run to cut the Ursinus lead down to 28-27 at the 6:56-mark. DeSales took their first lead of the contest at 34-33 at the 3:13-mark of the first half behind back-to-back baskets and held a 43-38 lead at the half following a last-second layup.
 
 
DeSales continued their momentum into the second half as they opened on a 10-4 run to go up 53-42 at the 15:54-mark. Ursinus worked their way back into the game with a 14-6 run to cut the lead down to 59-56, but the Bulldogs countered with five-straight points to go back up 64-56. DeSales seemingly started to pull away as they went up 69-58 with 7:51 left in the second half, but the Bears made one last run at the lead with a 10-1 run to make it a 70-68 game at the 4:15-mark. Unfortunately for the Bears, they were held to just one more point in the final four minutes which allowed DeSales to pull away with a 13-1 run.
 
 
The Bears shot 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the field after just shooting 33.3 percent in the second half. Ursinus went 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from three-point range and 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs shot 48.4 percent (30-of-62) from the field and 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from beyond the arc. DeSales went 16-of-25 (64%) from the free throw line and held a dominant 44-31 rebounding advantage that led to a 23-11 edge in second chance points.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action tomorrow, December 30th as they will face Alvernia in the consolation game at 5:00 p.m.