COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team used a big first half to power past McDaniel 81-62 in the First Round of the Centennial Conference Tournament on Tuesday evening at Helfferich Hall.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 18-8 overall and will advance to the Centennial Conference semifinals for the second straight season. Ursinus will face Johns Hopkins on Friday evening. Meanwhile, the Green Terror will wrap up their season with a 16-10 overall record.
 
 

Senior Mohamed Toure carried his dominant February stretch into the postseason by recording a game-high 24 points while totaling four rebounds, and three blocks. Toure now has scored at least 21 points in six of his last seven contests. Senior Nick Nocito picked up right where he left off on Saturday by adding 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 3-of-5 from deep. He recorded seven assists, five rebounds, and one steal. Sophomore Jamie Murphy recorded 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting along with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals while first-year Tomas Belaiter impressed in his postseason debut with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and totaled four rebounds plus three assists off the bench. Junior Matthew Field registered a career-high 13 rebounds that helped lead to a sizable 16-4 edge in second chance points for the Bears.
 
 

Ursinus hit the gas early after McDaniel scored the first basket of the game by going on a 10-2 run to go up 10-4 at the 13:24-mark of the first quarter. The Bears continued to pour it on early by using a 14-2 run to go up 24-6 at the 7:28-makr behind a sizzling start from the field. Ursinus did not let its lead fall below 15 points for the remainder of the first half. Murphy put the finishing touches on a dominant first half with a layup in the final minute to give Ursinus a 34-15 halftime lead.
 
 

Toure kicked the second half off with a layup to extend the Bears lead into the 20's for the first time in the game and they continued to hold a sizable lead throughout. Leading 44-23, the Bears powered to a 31-point lead at 56-25 behind a 12-3 burst with 11:53 left in the second half. Ursinus saw its lead reach as many as 32 points at 62-30 with 9:16 left in regulation and timely scoring kept the lead at a sizable margin.
 
 

The Bears went 30-of-57 (52.6%) from the field and 7-of-20 (35%) from three-point range. Ursinus shot 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the free throw line and held a convincing 41-26 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Green Terror shot 38.7 (24-of-62) from the field and 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from three-point range. McDaniel went a near-perfect 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the free throw line and got a team-high 23 points from David Kearney.
 
 

The Bears return to action on Friday, February 27^th as they head to Baltimore to take on No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins in the Centennial Conference Semifinals at 6:00 p.m.