EWING, N.J. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team overcame a first half deficit and held on for a 78-76 win over TCNJ on Saturday evening in the final game of the Lions Greg Grant Tip-Off Invitational.
With the win, the Bears completed a 2-0 weekend at the Invitational and improved to 3-1 overall. Meanwhile, the Lions fell to 1-3 overall.
Junior
Jamie Murphy recorded his fourth straight 20+ point game with 22 points while adding seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Senior
Matthew Field had an outstanding day with a career-high 21 points off 7-of-9 shooting and nearly completed a double-double with nine rebounds with three assists.
The Bears went back and forth with the Lions early in the first half but were unable to grab the lead despite tying the game three times in the first six minutes. Ursinus pulled back within one point at 16-15 at the 11:02-mark before the Lions used a 12-2 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 28-17 with 8:16 left in the first half. TCNJ took their largest lead of the game at 34-21 following a three-pointer at the 5:26-mark, but the Bears scored nine straight points to make it a 34-30 game with 3:04 left in the first half. The eighth three-pointer of the first half put the Lions up 44-36 in the final minute of and they held a 44-37 lead at halftime.
Ursinus came out red hot to start the second half as they initially scored the first seven points in a 1:26 span to tie the game at 44 and took their first lead of the game at 47-44 following a three-pointer from sophomore
Jasper Buck. The Bears extended their lead out to 54-46 at the 13:32-mark to cap off a 17-2 run to start the second half. A layup from sophomore
Trevor Toulson put the Bears up in double-digits at 62-52 with 9:10 left in regulation. Ursinus held its largest lead at 69-58 with 5:59 left in regulation and led by 10 points at 73-63. However, the Lions began to close back in with five straight points to get within 73-68 at the 2:44-mark and made it 74-72 with 1:36 left in regulation. A layup from Field made it 76-72 for Ursinus but the Lions got back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 76 with 45 seconds left. Murphy delivered what would become the game-winning basket for the Bears on the following possession with a shot off the window to make it 78-76 with 26 seconds left. Ursinus got a stop and split a pair of free throws to seal the win.
The Bears shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field behind shooting 60 percent in the second half. Ursinus went 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from three-point range and 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the free throw line. Ursinus also held a slight 40-37 rebounding advantage in the win. Meanwhile, the Lions shot 40 percent (26-of-65) from the field and 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from deep after going just 1-of-9 from three in the second half. The Lions shot a solid 83.3 percent (15-of-18 from the free throw line.
Ursinus returns to action on Wednesday, November 18
th as they will host Albright at 7:00 p.m.
