COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team was firing on all cylinders as the Bears opened up Centennial Conference play with a 95-77 victory over Haverford on Tuesday night.
The Bears (2-1, 1-0) came out playing with their hair on fire, shooting 11-of-15 from the field. After falling to a 6-2 deficit, the offense awoke. Sophomore Shane Stark triggered the turnaround with a put-back basket before leading the squad to a 20-10 advantage with 13:35 left in the first half. Stark found his 10th point at the 15:45 mark on a lay-up that drew a foul to give the Bears an 18-8 lead.
The Fords made it clear in the second half that they weren't going to continue to let Stark beat them, as they took away the Bears' first-half star. Stark was only able to get one bucket in the second half, but still left the contest with a line of 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals.
The offensive explosion hit its peak when senior Zach Quattro found his stroke from beyond the arc. Quattro put a pair of 3-pointers on the board within the Bears' next three possessions, extending the lead to double-digits at 25-13.
Ursinus combined the strong offensive output with even more sound defense. While on one side of the floor they shot 11-of-17, the Bears locked all windows and doors, forcing seven turnovers in the same span. Sophomore Ryan McTamney kicked off the highlight-reel plays when he got a hand on a pass and went coast-to-coast for an easy basket. Quattro followed suit a few minutes later with a steal of his own before dishing a bounce pass to senior Brian Rafferty for a layup.
Everyone seemed to be getting into the action on the offensive end, as eight different Bears scored in the first half. Junior Eric Williams Jr. found his rhythm late in the half, hitting two of three attempts from three-point land. The two buckets came on back-to-back possessions to push the Bears ahead 35-21. McTamney followed up with a finger-roll and Stark made a turnaround jumped to lift Ursinus to a 15-point lead, 45-30, that it would take to the break, leading 47-32 after 20 minutes.
Like the first half, the Bears started slow, but it didn't last long. The Fords (2-2, 0-1) kicked off the half with a 9-0 run to pull within six points before junior Matt Williams hit a 3-pointer to end it. From there, the Bears got back to playing the way they did in the first half, completing the contest with a 56.9 field goal percentage (33 for 58). They also made it hurt from deep, hitting on 52.6 percent of 3-point attempts (10 of 19).
Quattro would hit two more 3-pointers to wrap up his day 4-of-7 from beyond the arc with a team-leading 18 points. McTamney followed up his 11-point first-half performance with six more in the second, for 17 total points. It was the second game in a row that McTamney has put up that amount.
Three other Bears finished the day in double-digit scoring: Eric Williams made 15 points with four 3-pointers while senior Remi Janicot came alive in the second half, scoring 13 of his 15 in the second frame. Janicot pulled down five of his six rebounds in the final 20 minutes as well, capping his night – as well as everyone else's – with a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the contest.
With six assists, Rafferty moved past Bernie Rogers (1994-96) and Jesse Krasna (2011-14) for fourth place in school history.
Ursinus is back in Helfferich Hall for two more contests to close out the month. The Bears host Widener on Sunday before welcoming Franklin & Marshall on Thursday, November 30.
