COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team outlasted Haverford in overtime by a score of 91-85 in their Centennial Conference home opener on Tuesday night at Helfferich Hall.
 
 
With the win, the Bears leveled their record at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Centennial Conference play. Meanwhile, the Fords fell to the same records of 3-3 overall and 1-1 in conference action.
 
 
Senior Trevor Wall valiantly battled to a game and season-high of 26 points while grabbing three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. A pair of Bears set career-highs for points in a single contest as sophomore Nick Nocito scored 19 points off the bench while adding six assists and four rebounds. Junior Cole Grubbs registered 18 points and fell just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds while adding three assists. Junior Marlin Wise posted 11 points behind going 4-of-5 from the field and tallying three rebounds plus three assists.
 
 
Each team came out scorching hot from the field as the Fords made their first seven attempts from the field and the Bears starting 5-of-8. With the squads countering each other's move through the first five minutes, it was the Fords that took their largest lead of the game at 19-14 at the 13:58-mark. Ursinus responded by going 7-of-8 from the field in a 12-2 run to go up 26-21 with 9:24 left in the first half. Haverford made it a 26-23 game on a layup before the Bears stormed ahead with an 11-4 run to go up 37-25 at the 3:33-mark. Ursinus continued to answer each Ford shot make to maintain a 45-33 lead headed into the locker rooms.
 
 
Ursinus picked up right where they left off in the first 20 minutes to start the second half as they stretched their advantage to 16 points at 53-37 with 16:45 to go in regulation. The Bears consistent shooting early kept their lead above double-digits, and they took their largest lead of the game at 67-48, seemingly poised to pull away. However, the Fords began to heat up like they did to start the game as they cut the Bears led to three points at 72-69 with 2:39 left in regulation following a 21-5 run. Haverford's dramatic run was fueled by going 5-of-5 from deep during that stretch and a sixth-straight three-pointer made it a 74-72 game with 1:14 remaining in regulation. A missed layup from Wall on the Bears next possession and subsequent successful jumper from the Fords tied the game at 74 on a stunning four-point swing. Each team turned it over which set the stage for the Bears to possibly win in regulation, but a missed three-pointer sent the game into overtime.
 
 
 
The Bears took the lead to open overtime on three free throws from Wall off two trips and ended up never relinquishing it in overtime. Ursinus dug deep to pull out the win in the extra five minutes despite Nick Klaiber's heroic effort for the Fords by making his first four shot attempts. Klaiber kept Haverford within one on each of his shot attempts, but the Bears solid free throw shooting in overtime helped preserve the win. Ursinus went 6-of-6 from the line in the final 35 seconds and staved off the Fords lone three-point attempt in the extra session to hang on.
 
 
Ursinus shot 53.2 percent (33-of-62) from the field and just 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from three-point range. The Bears went 20-of-26 (76.9%) from the charity stripe which included going 11-of-12 in overtime. Each team grabbed 32 rebounds and the Fords held a slight 13-9 edge in second chance points. Meanwhile, the Fords shot 48.5 percent (32-of-66) from the field and 40 percent (10-of-25) from three-point range behind going 8-of-15 in the second half. Haverford went 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the free throw line in the loss.
 
 
Klaiber poured in a team-high 25 points for Haverford and made his final six shot attempts while adding two rebounds and two assists. Gaven Marr scored 17 points behind going 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range and grabbed four rebounds while Gabriel Franklin added 17 of his own. Clay Killoren fell short of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds before fouling out on the opening possession of overtime.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, December 2nd as they will travel to face McDaniel at 3:00 p.m. in Centennial Conference action.