COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team used an efficient shooting night from the field to defeat Haverford 89-79 on Thursday night in Centennial Conference play.
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Fords dropped to 4-10 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
 

Senior Ryan Hughes was dominant from the field by pouring in a season-high 28 points behind going 8-of-10 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range, and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. Hughes also added three rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal in the win. Freshman Nick Nocito recorded 14 points off the bench behind going 5-of-8 from the field while posing three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Sophomore Cole Grubbs tallied 11 points and five rebounds while senior Kyle Maurer registered 10 points and three rebounds.
 
 
Haverford started red hot from the field as they made their first three shot attempts of the game to go up 8-0 at the 18:14-mark, forcing a Bears timeout. Despite the slow start, the Bears began to find their rhythm and used a 21-5 run to go up 21-13 at the 9:26-mark. The Fords responded with nine-straight points of their own to go back in front at 22-21 with 6:36 left in the first half. The teams battled back and forth for most of the remaining time of the first half until the Bears closed the final 3:17 on a 7-2 run to go up 34-29 at halftime.
 
 
The Bears jumped right on the Fords to start the second half as they opened on an 8-3 run to go up 42-32 at the 17:24-mark, forcing a Haverford timeout. Ursinus then stretched its lead to 52-38 at the 13:13-mark after scoring seven-straight points.  Timely shooting from the Bears helped them maintain a comfortable lead throughout the second half as they did not let their advantage drop under nine points until the final seconds of the game. A 7-0 burst from the Bears in the span of a minute gave Ursinus their largest lead of the game at 66-49 with 7:38 left in regulation. Ursinus had an answer for any extended run from the Fords to lock up their second win in three days.
 

Ursinus shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field for the game behind going 62.5 percent in the second half. The Bears went 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from three-point range and 68.8 percent (22-of-32) from the free throw line. Ursinus held a slight 32-28 rebounding advantage, sizable 20-3 edge in fast break points, and got 29 points from its bench. Meanwhile, the Fords went 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field and 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from beyond the arc. Haverford went a strong 16-of-19 (84.2) percent from the free throw line as well in the loss.
 

Nate Torres led the Fords with a team-high 21 points while dishing out six assists and grabbing three rebounds. Jackson Ryan posted 17 points behind going 5-of-8 from the field and grabbed six rebounds while Ryan Trotter added 11 points.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, January 14th as they will travel to face No. 11 Johns Hopkins for a 3 p.m. contest.