COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 85-76 battle to No. 8 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale at Helfferich Hall.
The Bears wrap up the regular season 15-10 overall and 10-8 in Centennial Conference play to earn the fifth seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament next week. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays cap their regular season 22-3 overall and 16-2 overall to earn the top seed by tiebreaker over Swarthmore.
Prior to the contest, the Bears honored graduating seniors
Ryan Hughes and Maurer as a part of Senior Day ceremonies. Hughes was sharp from the field by tying for game lead with 22 points behind shooting 9-of-13 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range. He added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals as well against the Blue Jays. Junior
Trevor Wall matched Hughes with 22 points while posting two assists, two steals plus one rebound.
Ursinus had a possible upset on their minds early as they raced out to a 16-5 lead at the 13:26-mark of the first half behind a blazing start from the field. The Bears went 6-of-9 from the field during that stretch with half of the shots made being three-pointers. Hopkins cut the Ursinus advantage down to 16-11 at the 12:09-mark before the Bears struck back with a 15-7 run to take their largest lead of the contest at 31-18 with 4:56 remaining in the first half. However, the Blue Jays gained some momentum into halftime as they closed the first 20 minutes out on a 19-8 run to make it a 39-37 game.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half before Hopkins surged ahead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game at 50-45 with 16:58 remaining behind five-straight points. Hughes and Wall made baskets to make it a 50-49 game, but the Blue Jays punched back with a pair of three-pointers to go up 56-49. Ursinus continued to hang with the Blue Jays throughout the second half as they never trailed by more than six points until the 5:30-mark. However, any small run the Bears put together was quickly answered by Hopkins. A layup from sophomore
Beau Everett made it a 67-65 game with 6:28 left in regulation before the Blue Jays countered with seven unanswered to go up 74-65. Hughes valiantly cut the deficit down to four points at 76-72 after making a three-pointer, but the Bears would get no closer the rest of the way. The Blue Jays made nine of their 10 free throws in the final minute to lock up the win.
The Bears shot an even 50 percent (29-of-58) from the field and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from three-point range. Ursinus went 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line and scored 18 points off 13 Hopkins turnovers. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays went 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the field behind going 54.2 percent in the second half. Hopkins shot a sizzling 50 percent (13-of-26) from deep and 66.7 percent (20-of-30) from the free throw line. The Blue Jays also held a 39-28 advantage in rebounds for the game.
All five starters scored in double-figures for the Blue Jays, led by John Windley with 21 points behind going 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range while grabbing six rebounds. Lincoln Yeutter added 17 points off the bench behind going 3-of-4 from deep.
The Bears open action in the first round of the Centennial Conference Tournament at the fourth-seeded Muhlenberg Mules on Tuesday night. The time of the game will be determined on Monday during the Centennial Conference pre-championship meeting.
