COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Trailing by as much as 17 points in the first, Ursinus scored 66 points in the second half as the Bears (7-10, 4-6 Centennial) rallied back to defeat Swarthmore (5-12, 2-8 Centennial) 88-76 Saturday afternoon in a game that featured 66 personal fouls and saw the two teams combine for 98 foul shot attempts.
Ursinus got a game and career-high 31 points from sophomore forward Jon Ward (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) who was 17-for-22 from the foul line in the win. Ursinus as a team was 39-for-52 (75 percent).
Sophomore forward Kevin Janowski (New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) poured in 23 points and ten rebounds, with freshman guard Jessie Krasna (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) scoring 11 and grabbing ten rebounds. Sophomore guard Matt Donahue (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) had 12 off the bench.
Swarthmore was led by 26 points from freshman guard Jay Kober, with sophomore forward Will Gates adding in 18.
Ursinus had a 41-36 lead on the glass in the win, and had 38 of its 88 points scored in the paint.
Early on, it was all Swarthmore as the Garnet went up by 17 with 8:13 left on a three-pointer by Gates that made the score 27-10. Ursinus would only be able to get back within 14 at intermission, on a layup by Ward with 1:27 left made the score 36-22.
In the second half, Ursinus outscored the Garnet 24-9 over the first 7:04 to take a 46-45 lead on a layup by Janowski. Janowski scored 22 of his 23 points in the second half.
Swarthmore stayed within striking distance, before Ursinus opened up a nine point lead with 8:29 left on a layup by Ward making the score 59-50. From there, Ursinus would not let the lead dip below five.
Both teams took care of the ball, as Ursinus had just seven turnovers while the Garnet had nine.
Ursinus heads to Washington Wednesday.