COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team let a second half lead slip away in a 100-99 setback to Wilkes on Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Bear Bash Tip-Off Tournament at Helfferich Hall.
 
 
Senior Trevor Wall registered a career-high 38 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from three-point range. Junior Mohamed Toure posted 17 points and eight rebounds while classmate Nick Nocito tallied a double-double behind 15 points and 10 assists, his second straight double-digit assist output. First-year Jamie Murphy scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
 
 
The first half saw competitive back and forth action before the Bears stormed ahead with a 22-0 run to go up 32-12 at the 12:21-mark. Ursinus went 7-of-8 from the field in that stretch and held the Colonels without a point for four minutes. The Bears stretched its lead out to 22 points at 39-17 with 9:55 left in the first half before the Colonels began to match baskets with Ursinus. Wilkes made it a 46-32 game with 6:17 left in the first half but could only get within 13 of the Bears before halftime. Ursinus gained a 66-49 lead at the half after Murphy made a jumper as time expired.
 
 
Ursinus picked up where it left off to start the second half as they went up 71-51 in the opening minute, but Wilkes began slowly crawling its way back into the game. The Colonels got within 10 points of the Bears at 79-69 at the 13:10-mark before Ursinus answered with an 11-2 run to take a 90-71 lead at the 10:26-mark. However, the tide began to turn as the Colonels heated up from the field and took advantage of Bears turnovers to put together a massive run. Wilkes scored 13 straight points to make it a 90-84 game with 6:59 left in regulation and got within four points at 94-90 with 5:14 left in the second half. Wall made a three-pointer to give Ursinus a 97-90 lead with 4:52 left in the second half before Wilkes ran off seven straight points to tie the game at 97 with 2:07 left in regulation. Nocito gave the Bears the lead with a layup with 56 seconds left and Wilkes forced a turnover before hitting a three-pointer in the final seconds.
 
 
The Bears shot 56.3 percent (36-of-64) from the field behind going 65.7 percent from the field and 13-of-28 (46.4%) from three-point range. Ursinus went 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the free throw line and held a slight 33-32 rebounding advantage. However, they had 20 turnovers compared to Wilkes at 11. The Colonels shot an even 50 percent (34-of-68) from the field and 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from three-point range. Wilkes went a near perfect 21-of-24 (87.5%) from the free throw line as well.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Wednesday, November 13th as they will host Widener at 8:00 p.m.