COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Trailing by 18 points with 4:49 left in the first half, Ursinus rallied to within five at halftime, then scored 51 points in the second half as the Bears (1-2, 1-0 Centennial) won their Centennial opener with a 85-74 win over McDaniel (1-2, 0-1 Centennial) Tuesday night in men's basketball action.
The Bears put all five starters in double figures, paced by 24 points from freshman guard Malik Draper (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) along with 14 points each from senior forward Kevin Janowski (New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) and junior guard Jesse Krasna (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury).
McDaniel, who shot as high as 75 percent from the field at one point in the first half, got 18 points and 10 rebounds from senior forward Tyler Rudd and 11 points off the bench from junior guard Nic Martin.
Ursinus also benefited from a 43-32 edge on the glass, including a 15-6 margin offensively. Those 15 offensive rebounds turned into 17 second-chance points in the win. Draper finished with ten to lead Ursinus.
Senior forward Jon Ward (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) scored 12, while freshman guard Mark Wonderling (Lederach, Pa./Souderton Area) chipped in with 11.
McDaniel led from the jump, going up by ten at 21-11 on a layup by Martin. Ursinus would get as close as six at 21-15, before McDaniel went on a 17-5 run to go up 18 at 38-20 on a three-pointer by Martin.
The Bears then closed the half on a 14-1 scoring run capped by a layup from Wonderling with 42 seconds left to make the halftime score 39-34.
In the second half, McDaniel was able to maintain the lead, before Ursinus forced a 51-all tie with 13:28 left on a three-pointer by junior guard Pat Vasturia (Medford, N.J./Bishop Eustace).
From there, the Green Terror went back up seven at 58-51 as Martin drained a pair of foul shots to cap the scoring run.
Trailing by nine with 9:08 left, Ursinus outscored McDaniel 26-6, including a 17-0 run over a span of nearly seven minutes. The Bears took the lead for good at 71-70 with 5:08 to go on a three-pointer by Draper.
The lead would get as high as 13 points (83-70) on a pair of foul shots by Janowski.
The Bears also used the foul line to their advantage, going 23-for-34 (67.6 percent) as opposed to 8-for-14 for McDaniel. Krasna also picked up six assists on the night.
Ursinus will take on Neumann Saturday at the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic hosted by Neumann.