COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team passed its last pre-finals test on Saturday, pulling away down the home stretch for a 65-55 Centennial Conference victory over McDaniel.
Ryan McTamney led all scorers with 17 points for the Bears (5-3, 1-2), who rebounded from a heartbreaking last-second loss to top-ranked Swarthmore and grabbed their first league result of the season. The senior was one of four players in double figures as Jimmy Kpadeh scored 11 and Ryan Hughes and George Gordon contributed 10 apiece in a balanced offensive effort.
Ursinus led almost wire to wire, but the Green Terror (3-4, 0-3) stayed within range throughout and used an early spurt in the second half to knot the game at 36 on Josh Sproul's 3-pointer at the 16-minute mark. Hughes took matters into his own hands, driving the lane for a basket plus a foul to ignite a 9-2 burst that McTamney capped with a left-corner triple to restore some breathing room.
McDaniel got back within two and trailed by just four with under five minutes left before Jimmy Kpadeh connected from long range to give the Bears a 59-52 advantage. The lead swelled as large as a dozen before the final whistle.
Ursinus put together a strong defensive performance, forcing 15 turnovers and limiting the Green Terror to a 5-for-21 clip (23.8 percent) from 3-point range. Mike Wallace paced three McDaniel players in double digits with 11 points.
The Bears found themselves down, 7-6, in the opening minutes but got a big lift from their bench as they embarked on a 16-4 extended stretch. Matt McMahon made the most of some first-half time, finding Lucas Olshevski with a beautiful pass for a layup to make it 15-9. Following a McDaniel basket, George Gordon knocked down a jumper and Trey Koehler sunk a deep 3 ahead of a driving lay-in from Hughes as Ursinus opened up a 22-11 lead just past the midway point of the frame.
The Green Terror trimmed the lead own to 27-25, but Koehler stopped the run with a mid-range jumper and sent the Bears into intermission with a seven-point lead on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The rookie finished with eight points – all in the first half – on 3-of-4 from the field. Olshevski complemented Koehler's impressive play off the pine with six points, three rebounds, and three assists. McMahon grabbed three rebounds and handed out an assist.
Ursinus shot an even 50.0 percent from the floor (24-for-48) and made 7-of-20 from 3-point territory. Hughes topped the team with seven rebounds, though McDaniel won the glass by a 34-31 margin.
The Bears have one game left in 2019, a home contest against Washington College on December 18.