SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team valiantly battled before being dealt a tough 63-61 setback to No. 10 Swarthmore on Wednesday night in Centennial Conference action.
 
 
 
Sophomore Cole Grubbs led the Bears with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and four rebounds. Junior Trevor Wall tallied 13 points, seven assists, and grabbed three rebounds while Senior Kyle Maurer added 12 points behind posting perfect lines of shooting 3-of-3 and from the free throw line 5-of-5. Senior Ryan Hughes recorded 10 points, two rebounds, and two assists to round out the four Bear starters in double-figures.
 
 
The first half saw competitive action back and forth to open the game with each team trading points throughout which led to nine lead changes in the first 12 minutes. Ursinus used a 14-3 run to take their largest lead of the half at 25-17 at the 5:41-mark before the Garnet countered with a 7-2 burst of their own to cut the deficit down to 27-24. The Bears went up 34-26 with 1:55 left in the first half and Swarthmore closed the final minute out with the final five points to make it a 34-33 game at the half.
 
 
Ursinus continued to take every best swing from the Garnet to start the second half as they continued to not face a deficit through the first 10 minutes of the second half. A jumper from Hughes gave the Bears a 51-45 advantage at the 9:43-mark of the second half which matched their largest lead of the final 20 minutes. However, the game began to swing when the Garnet went on a 10-4 run to level the game at 55 with 4:51 left in regulation. Wall put the Bears back in front with a three-pointer at 58-55 with 4:35 left in regulation, but Ursinus did not score for a span of 2:52 which allowed the Garnet to take their first lead since the early portion of the first half at 59-58. Freshman Nick Nocito then drained a three-pointer to give Ursinus a 61-59 lead with 1:43 left in regulation. Swarthmore quickly tied the game on its next possession with a layup, but it was the Bears that had a chance to take the lead back after a Garnet turnover in the final minute. Wall drew a foul with 15 seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-one which led to Swarthmore escaping with the game-winning layup at the three-second mark.
 
 
The Bears shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from three-point range. Ursinus went 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from the free throw line as well. Meanwhile, the Garnet went 38.1 percent (24-of-63) from the field and just 26.3 percent (5-fo-19) from three-point range. The Garnet went 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the free throw line and held a sizable 42-28 rebounding advantage which led to a 13-2 edge in second chance points.
 
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, January 21st as they will host McDaniel at 1 p.m.