EWING, NJ. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team was unable to overcome an early first half deficit falling to TCNJ 86-68 on Saturday afternoon from Packer Hall.
With the loss Ursinus moves to 1-1 on the season, meanwhile the Lions improved to 2-0 on the short season.
Senior
Trevor Wall finished with a game-high 21 points behind shooting 8-of-18 from the field and 3-of-8 from deep while adding three rebounds and three assists. Sophomore forward
Mohamed Toure recorded his second-straight performance in double figures with 12 points (4-of-9) and two rebounds, while junior forward
Marlin Wise finished with seven points and a team-high six rebounds and seven assists. Off the bench, first-year
Luke Nieman set a career-high in points with nine behind shooting 3-of-8 from deep.
Ursinus took an early 4-0 advantage as Wall and junior forward
Luke Trotta each connected on jump shots. TCNJ was scoreless through the first two minutes of action, but consecutive shots made including a three-pointer at the 17:16-mark gave the Lions a 5-4 advantage. TCNJ went on an 8-0 run to increase their lead to nine, before a three-pointer from senior guard
Beau Everett made the score 13-7 with 14:32 remaining in the first half. After the Lions stretched their lead to ten, Nieman answered with back-to-back three pointers to cut the deficit to four.
To open the second half, TCNJ opened with a 10-3 run to extend their lead to 19 before back-to-back three-pointers from Wall and Wise made the score 52-37. Later in the second half with TCNJ leading 57-39, first-years
Patrick Downes and Nieman each connected on three-pointers to cut the deficit to 12 with 12:35 remaining in the contest. With under ten minutes to play, Ursinus would only be able to cut their deficit to 13 as junior
Jaiden Jakubowski and Toure each connected on three-pointers, but TCNJ would pick the 86-68 non-conference victory.
The Bears shot 41.4% (24-of-58) from the field, 35.3% (12-of-34) from three-point range, and 66.7% (8-of-12) from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, TCNJ finished shooing 50% (31-of-62) from the field, 33.3% (10-of-30) from three-point land, and 82.4% (14-of-17) from the free throw line. The Lions only forced 11 Bears turnovers but combined for a total of 40 points in the paint during the victory. TCNJ's Nick Koch paced the Lions offense with 18 points and four assists, while Jason Larranaga tallied 17 points behind shooting five-of-seven from three-point range. With TCNJ leading 19-14, the Lions used a 13-2 run to stretch their lead to 15, before Wall knocked down a triple with 5:32 remaining in the half. Wall would score six of the next eight points for the Bears, but Ursinus trailed 40-28 at the break.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, November 15
th as they travel to Widener University for a non-conference matchup at 1 p.m.
