COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus men's basketball team was unable to slow down a red-hot Muhlenberg offense as they dropped a 94-61 contest to the Mules on Wednesday night at Helfferich Hall.
The Bears record stands at 15-9 overall and 10-7 in Centennial Conference action. Gettysburg's win over McDaniel tonight locked Ursinus into the No. 5 seed in next week's Centennial Conference Tournament where they will either travel to face the Bullets or the Mules. Muhlenberg improved their record to 16-9 overall and 11-6 in conference play.
Senior
Ryan Hughes was the lone player in double-figures for the Bears in the contest as he recorded a team-high 22 points behind going 8-of-14 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Hughes also added seven rebounds, four assists, and one block.
Ursinus gained the early advantage in the opening minutes of the contest by going up 6-2 before an 11-4 run from the Mules put them ahead 13-10 at the 14:11-mark of the first half. A pair of free throws from freshman
Mohamed Toure moved the Bears within one point at 13-12 before the Mules ran off 10-straight points to take a 23-12 lead with 11:01 left in the first half. Muhlenberg extended their lead out to as many as 15 points at 31-16 at the 8:07-mark behind a stretch of going 8-of-9 from the field. However, Bears began to rally themselves back in the contest by going on a 14-4 run to make it a 35-30 game with 4:05 left in the first half. Muhlenberg made a pair of free throws to go up 42-34 in the final minute of the first half, but Hughes gave the Bears some momentum with a fastbreak layup as time expired to bring the score to 42-36 at halftime.
Sophomore
Cole Grubbs got the Bears on the board first in the second half to cut the deficit down to 42-38, but that would be as close as Ursinus would get for the rest of the game. The Mules used a 21-4 run to extend their lead over 20 points for the first time in the contest at 63-42. Ursinus was only able to get within 16 points the rest of the way.
The Bears shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and just 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from three-point range. Ursinus also shot a solid 85.7 percent (12-of-14) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, the Mules shot a blazing 64.9 percent (37-of-57) from the field and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from three-point range. Muhlenberg went 12-of-17 (70.6%) from the free throw line and held a 33-25 advantage in rebounds.
Giovanni Rubino, the leading scorer in the Centennial Conference, poured in a game-high 29 points behind going 10-of-15 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Dan Gaines complimented with 20 points after going 8-of-14 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, February 18th as they will host No. 8 Johns Hopkins at 1:00 p.m. in their regular season finale for senior day.
