Men's Basketball Felled in Finale at F&M

Men's Basketball Felled in Finale at F&M

LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team lost control of its playoff destiny with a 75-62 loss at Franklin & Marshall in Saturday's regular-season finale.

The Bears (12-13, 7-11) could have clinched the fifth and final spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs with a victory, but went ice cold over the last 10 minutes to put its fate into the hands of Dickinson. The Red Devils had a good look at a game-winning 3-pointer, but it did not go down and Washington College grabbed the last CC tournament berth with a 59-57 victory.

Ryan Hughes led all scorers with 21 points for Ursinus, which shot just 30.0 percent in the second half. Ryan McTamney had 13 points in his final collegiate appearance, and George Gordon finished with 10.

McTamney concluded his remarkable career with 1,380 points, good for eighth on the all-time scoring list at Ursinus. He averaged 18.0 points per game to rank second in the Centennial, behind only Hughes' 18.2; Hughes and McTamney became the first pair of teammates in conference history to occupy the top two scoring slots at the end of the regular season.

The Bears held a narrow 40-38 lead after a back-and-forth first half and maintained that one-basket advantage on a lay-up by Lucas Olshevski with 16:42 to play. The teams were tied at 49 after three free throws by Matt McMahon, but Solomon Mathis answered with a 3 on the other end and F&M never trailed again.

The Diplomats led 52-51 after a pair of free throws by Hughes, but quickly stretched their lead out to seven on back-to-back treys by Bo Williams and Les Thomas. A 3-pointer by Jimmy Kpadeh and two critical foul shots from Olshevski trimmed the deficit to 62-58 at the 6:37 mark before Mathis took over, swishing a deep jumper and a straightaway triple before driving baseline for a three-point play to put the game out of reach.

Thomas led F&M with 16 points, while Justin Kupa had 15, Mathis 13, and Ignas Slyka 12. The blue and white shot 50.0 percent and made four of their seven 3-point tries after halftime.

F&M controlled a 37-27 advantage on the glass and committed five fewer turnovers than the Bears (17-12).

McMahon finished with a season-high nine points, making two of three from distance and all three of his freebies.