LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team battled Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday night in Centennial Conference night with the Diplomats coming out on top 72-58 in a wire-to-wire win.
 
 
 Senior Trevor Wall led the Bears with 16 points and grabbed four rebounds with two assists plus two seals. Junior Nick Nocito scored 13 points and dished out four assists while classmate Mohamed Toure added 11 points and six rebounds.
 
 
The Diplomats started fast and built a lead up to 14-2 exactly eight minutes into the contest as the Bears went 6:42 without scoring a point. Nocito ended the scoring drought with a layup that started a run of 10 straight points to make it a 14-12 game at the 7:54-mark of the first half. Franklin & Marshall answered with a 10-2 run to go up 24-14 at the 5:52-mark The Bears got within four points at 27-23 with 3:28 left in the first half and trailed 34-28 headed into the second half.
 
 
Franklin & Marshall opened the second half with a 7-2 burst to go up 41-30 at the 18:12-mark. The Bears used a 13-7 run to make it a 48-43 game with 12:26 left in the second half but would get no closer from there. Ursinus trailed 59-47 with 7:10 left in regulation and used an 8-2 run to pull within six at 61-55 at the 5:09-mark. However, the Diplomats closed the game on an 11-2 run as the Bears went scoreless in the final 2:54 of the game.
 
 
The Bears shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field, just 16 percent (4-of-25) from three-point range and went a near perfect 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the free throw line. Franklin & Marshall went 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the field, 10-of-31 (32.3%) from three-point range, and 14-of-20 (70%) from the free throw line. The Diplomats held a slight 35-33 rebounding edge and scored 20 points off 15 Bears turnovers.
 
 
Ursinus takes on Johns Hopkins  next on Saturday, February 8th at 4:00 p.m.