COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – A second-half surge lifted the Ursinus men's basketball team past McDaniel College, 79-52, on Saturday afternoon inside Helfferich Hall.

 
With the victory, Ursinus improved to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in Centennial Conference play. The Green Terror fell to 11-6 overall and 1-4 in conference action.
 

Senior Mohamed Toure paced the Bears with 23 points, including 22 in the second half, while shooting 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Sophomore Jamie Murphy added 19 points and five rebounds, while junior Luke Niemann contributed 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Senior Nick Nocito recorded his fifth career double-double with 11 points and a season-high 11 assists.

 
Both teams struggled from the field early as McDaniel jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Ursinus gained its first advantage at 8-7 with 13:34 remaining in the first half. McDaniel regained a 12-9 lead following a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws before Ursinus reclaimed a 16-15 edge on a 3-pointer from first-year Jasper Buck. McDaniel answered with five straight points to take a four-point lead, but layups from Murphy and junior Matthew Field tied the game at 20 with 3:22 to play in the half. Field, Nocito and Niemann combined for the next six points to give Ursinus a 26-21 advantage with 1:33 remaining before Nocito and Murphy capped a 10-3 run to send the Bears into halftime with a 30-23 lead.

 
The teams traded baskets to open the second half until six straight points from Toure gave Ursinus a double-digit advantage at 38-27 with 16:56 remaining. Over the next three minutes, Nocito assisted Toure on a 3-pointer and found Niemann for three triples as the Bears extended the lead to 47-34 with 14 minutes left. McDaniel responded with a 6-2 run to trim the margin to single digits, but five straight points from Toure pushed the lead back to 14. Following a 6-1 Green Terror run, Murphy answered with four consecutive points, while an old-fashioned 3-point play from Nocito made it 61-45 with 8:12 remaining.
 

Toure then connected on three consecutive 3-pointers to cap a decisive 17-0 Ursinus run. Leading 71-46 with 5:28 to play, Murphy and Toure combined for five points down the stretch to secure the 79-52 victory.
 

Ursinus shot 52.9% (27-of-51) from the field, 40.9% (9-of-22) from beyond the arc and 64% (16-of-25) from the free-throw line. The Bears held McDaniel to 40.0% (18-of-45) shooting from the floor, 33.3% (7-of-21) from 3-point range and 56.3% (9-of-16) at the line. Ursinus shot 66.7% (8-of-12) from deep in the second half and scored 22 points off turnovers. David Kearney led the Green Terror with 21 points and five rebounds.
 

The Bears return to action Wednesday, January 24th, when they host Swarthmore College at 8 p.m. inside Helfferich Hall.