COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team dug deep and knocked off Franklin & Marshall 67-65 on Thursday evening in Centennial Conference action at Helfferich Hall.
With the win, the Bears improved to 10-10 overall and 6-7 in Centennial Conference action while ending the Diplomats eight-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Diplomats, who were co-leading the Centennial entering Thursday night, fell to 16-4 overall and 11-2 in conference play.
Senior
Trevor Wall notched his third 30+ point game of the season with a game-high 33 points behind going 13-of-21 shooting from the field along with making four three-pointers. He was the lone Bear in double-figures for scoring as sophomore
Mohamed Toure was next with nine points along with adding three rebounds plus two blocks. Junior
Cole Grubbs hauled down a game-high 10 rebounds and tallied three blocks while scoring two points.
The Bears quickly fired off five points to gain the early advantage just two minutes into the contest and maintained a 10-6 advantage following a pair of free throws from junior
Beau Everett at the 16:42-mark. F&M took their only lead of the contest following a three-pointer at the 13:51-mark of the first half but were answered by a 7-2 burst from Ursinus that put the Bears up 18-14 with 6:47 left in the first half. The Bears and Diplomats slugged it out for the final six minutes of the first half as Ursinus was unable to extend their lead past four. F&M tied things at 26 with a three-pointer at the 48-second mark before Wall put the Bears in front at halftime 28-26 with a jumper at the 19-second mark.
Junior
Marlin Wise and Grubbs connected with back-to-back baskets to open the second half to put the Bears up six at 32-26 in the opening minute. The Diplomats pulled within two points at 36-34 before nine unanswered points from Ursinus gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 45-34 with 13:28 left in the second half. Each team traded 5-0 bursts over the next three minutes that left the Bears up 50-39 at the 11:48-mark. However, the Diplomats continued to inch closer towards the Bears over next few minutes behind getting Ursinus in foul trouble and getting trips to the free throw line. Ursinus went without making a field goal for a span of 5:32 which allowed the Diplomats to get within two points at 58-56 at the 3:24-mark of the second half. Wall ended the stretch with a layup only to be answered by a Diplomats three-pointer to make it a 60-59 game with 2:06 left in regulation. Wall countered the three with another layup on the ensuing Bears possession and extended the lead to five at 64-59 following a missed three-pointer from F&M. The Dipolmats hit a three-pointer with 23 seconds left to get within two at 64-62 and both teams traded two free throws on their next possessions. Sophomore
Nick Nocito split a pair of free throws that left Ursinus up 67-64 with 12 seconds left which gave the Diplomats a chance to tie. Following a first made free throw after a foul, a miss on the second bounce back behind the arc to the Diplomats. A potential go-ahead three-point attempt bounced off the back of the iron and time ran out before either team could grab a rebound.
The Bears shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field and 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from three-point range. Ursinus only went 12-of-22 (54.5%) from the free throw line and held a 41-34 edge in rebounds. Meanwhile, the Diplomats went 17-of-51 (33.3%) from the field and 9-of-26 (34.6%) from beyond the arc. F&M made 22 of 31 free throws (71%) and Vakaris Grauslys led the team with 27 points behind near-perfect 17-of-18 from the free throw line.
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, February 3
rd as they will travel to face Washington College at 4:00 p.m.
