WESTMINISTER, MD. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team used an efficient offensive outing to power their way to a 67-57 win over McDaniel on Saturday afternoon.
 


The Bears have now won eight of the last nine meetings against the Green Terror and avenged a 79-63 defeat last year at the Kline Center. The two squads will face off again on Saturday, January 21^st from Helfferich Hall.


 
Senior Ryan Hughes led the way for the Bears with a team-high 17 points and seven assists behind an efficient 50% from the field. First-year Nick Nocito was electric drilling four of his six three-point attempts finishing with 13 points, six assists, and three steals, while sophomores Jaiden Jakubowski and Cole Grubbs each added 11 points. Grubbs nearly collected his first double-double of the season as he finished with nine rebounds and continued to anchor the Bears defense with two blocks.
 


Ursinus jumped on the board first after winning the opening tip Hughes drove towards the lane and found junior Kyle Maurer in the corner for a three-pointer. First-year Mo Toure converted on a three-pointer at the 16:29-mark to give the Bears an early 6-2 advantage. The Green Terror's offense started to heat up with a 9-2 run over the next four minutes as Russell Dandridge and David Smoot combined for seven points to give McDaniel an 11-8 advantage at the 12:56 mark. The Bears responded with ten consecutive points to regain an 18-11 advantage leading to a McDaniel timeout with eight minutes to play in the half. Ursinus collected two offensive rebounds during the run leading to six points as Jakubowski drilled a three and Hughes converted on a three-point play. After the timeout, the Bears scored the next four points as sophomore Beau Everett collected a layup and Grubbs knocked down two free throws from the charity stripe. With Ursinus leading 22-11 at the 5:45-mark, the Green Terror slowly started to battle back cutting their deficit to four as Charles Contee knocked down a jumper with 3:44 remaining in the half. The Bears scored the next six points as Hughes connected on a jump shot to make the score 28-18 Ursinus at the 1:24-mark. McDaniel closed out the first half on a 5-2 run as Contee drilled a three-pointer for the Green Terror at the buzzer to make the score 31-23 Ursinus.
 


The Bears opened the second half with five-straight points as Grubbs converted a layup and Nocito knocked down a three-pointer after a pass from Hughes. Ursinus stretched their lead to 12 at the 16:32-mark as Jakubowski collected his second three-pointer of the contest, making the score 41-29. Torre connected on a three with 15:17 to play to give Ursinus their largest lead of the contest holding a 44-29 advantage. McDaniel slowly started to chip into the Bears lead as a 10-3 run cut their deficit to eight with 10 minutes to play in the contest. After Jakubowski converted on a driving layup for Ursinus, the Green Terror responded with 6-1 run as Contee connected on a jump shot at the 8:28-mark. The Bears answered with six straight points from Ryan Hughes as he drilled a three-pointer and a turn around jumpshot to increase the Ursinus lead to 11. McDaniel could only get as close as seven points as Ursinus converted six-of-seven free throws down the stretch to hold onto a 67-57 victory.


 
The Bears shot 55.6 percent (22-of-44) from the field and went 10-of-23 (43.5%) from three-point range, going 5-of-15 in the first half. Ursinus made 13-of-23 (56.5%) free throws and held a slight 9-6 edge in steals. The Bears also scored 18 points off 15 Green Terror turnovers and got 8 points from its bench.


 
Contee led the Green Terror with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds while shooting 41.2% from the field. McDaniel shot 40% (22-of-55) from the field and 21% (4-of-19) from three-point range while holding a 37-27 advantage in rebounds.


 
Ursinus will return to action on Saturday, December 10th as they host Immaculata for a 1 p.m. start from Helfferich Hall.