CHESTER, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team used a big second half to rally for an 81-74 win over Widener in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 3-1 overall while the Pride dropped to 1-3 in the early part of the season.
 
Junior Luke Nieman registered a career-high 24 points behind going 9-of-15 from the field and six three-pointers while adding six rebounds. Senior Mohamed Toure added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting plus six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks while sophomore Porter Kelly scored 10 points off the bench behind going 4-of-8 from the field.
 
 
Widener scored the first nine points of the game, and the Bears did not score a point until a layup from first-year Tomas Belaiter at the 15:00-minute mark. Ursinus got within three points at 12-9 with 11:05 left in the first half and the Pride responded with a 7-2 burst to go up 19-12. The Bears scored nine straight points to take their first lead of the game at 21-19 with 6:54 left in the first half before the Pride used a 12-4 run to go up 31-25 at the 4:01-mark. Ursinus pulled within one point at 35-34 with 54 seconds left in the first half and the Pride made five points down the stretch to take a 40-34 lead into halftime.
 
 
Ursinus ripped off eight straight points to start the second half and went up 42-40 at the 16:57-mark. The teams traded points with neither team taking a lead more than three points until when the Bears went up 51-48 at the 12:01-mark. Widener scored eight straight points to go up 56-51 with 9:54 left in regulation and extended their lead to six at 62-56 two minutes later. However, the Bears used a 10-2 run to take a 66-64 lead at the 4:53-mark. Nieman delivered three straight three-pointers for Ursinus that gave them a decisive 75-67 lead with 1:38 left in regulation. Nieman's run allowed the Bears to close the game out at the free throw line in the final minute.
 
 
The Bears went 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the field behind shooting 55.6 percent in the second half and shot 36.8 percent (7-of-18) from three-point range with six coming in the second half. Ursinus shot just 57.9 percent (22-of-38) from the free throw line and held a sizable 49-29 rebounding advantage that led to a 16-7 advantage in second chance points. Meanwhile, the Pride shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field and 26.7 percent (8-of-30) from three-point range. Widener went 75 percent (18-of-24) from the free throw line and scored 28 points off 28 Ursinus turnovers. Myles Bright turned in a heroic 40-point effort for the Pride in defeat behind going 13-of-24 from the field and making six three-pointers.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Tuesday, November 25^th as they will travel to face Goucher at 6:00 p.m.