WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After a career-night to send the Bears to the Dutch Burch Tip-Off Tournament championship game, Ryan Hughes answered with another career-day to win it. Behind Hughes' 28 points, the Ursinus College men's basketball team (2-0) defeated host Lycoming, 85-76 on Saturday afternoon.
Meeting for the first time on opposite sides of the basketball court were Bears coach Kevin Small and Lycoming coach and former Bear Mike McGarvey. McGarvey was a two-time All-American at Ursinus and has his No. 11 jersey hanging in Helferich Hall.
The Bears finished strong in the semi-finals, scoring 42 second-half points. They picked up in the championship game right where they left off the night before. Ryan McTamney put the Bears on the board early with a layup and Ryan Hughes found netting from beyond the arc for a 5-4 lead.
Trailing 9-5, another Hughes three brought Ursinus back within one before the sophomore guard sunk a pair of free throws to put the Bears ahead. Both teams went back and forth with a series of three lead changes but with the Bears down 14-13, Lucas Olshevski nailed a three and they didn't look back.
Ursinus never trailed again and Hughes caught flame.
With the Bears up by two, the sophomore guard fired a trey en route to 19 first-half points, sparking a 13-4 run that put the team up by double-digits.
The Bears went into the half, leading 46-34.
Coming out of the half it was none other than Hughes who made a three, putting the Bears up by 15. Ursinus kept it going, finding itself up by as much as 20 points after a McTamney layup.
Lycoming climbed back, coming within six with under 7:30 to play after a three-pointer. Bruce Edwards answered with a three of his own however as the Bears kept their distance. The Warriors again came close, cashing in on a three-point play to make it 75-71 with three to play, but a Bears three, this time from McTamney, put the lead back up to seven.
Ursinus went on to close out the game, winning 85-76. It's the first time since 2016 that the Bears have won their season-opening tournament.
After a career performance in which he scored 25, Hughes backed it up with a 28-point performance on Saturday to lead the team. The sophomore went four-of-seven from beyond the arc and added eight boards. McTamney surpassed 20 as well, shooting eight-of-11 from the field on his way to 21 points of his own to go with eight rebounds. Jimmy Kpadeh led the Bears with six assists.
With their performances, Hughes and McTamney were named to the all-tournament team while Hughes was also named tournament MVP.
As a team, Ursinus shot an efficient 56.6% from the field and an outstanding 61.1% from three-point range.