COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team won its seventh straight at home, shocking the Centennial Conference with a 53-50 win over fourth-ranked Dickinson on Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall.
For the Bears, the win over the Red Devils (11-3 Centennial, 18-3) was the highest ranked team the Bears have beaten since 2005. It also marked the highest ranked teams the Bears have defeated since the Centennial Conference started tracking such wins after the 1999-2000 season.
Junior guard Malik Draper (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) closed out a strong week with a team-high 14 points with sophomore guard Matt Knowles (Waverly, Pa./Scranton Prep) returning to the lineup with 12 points.
Freshman forward Remi Janicot (Paris, France/Hun School of Princeton) had a game and career high 15 rebounds for Ursinus, including 12 on the defensive side.
Dickinson was led by 14 points from junior guard Ted Hinnenkamp, while senior forward Gerry Wixted had 11.
Ursinus held Dickinson to just 31.5 percent shooting from the field (17-for-54) and 19.2 percent from behind the arc (5-for-26). Ursinus shot effectively, making 41.3 percent of their shots (19-for-46) and scoring 16 points off of Dickinson's 13 turnovers.
Early on, it was all Dickinson as the Red Devils tried to put the game away early by going up 22-9 with 11:16 left on a pair of foul shots from freshman guard Moses Romocki. Ursinus would come back to within eight at 24-16 on a shot 7-2 run with a three-pointer from sophomore forward Steve Leonard (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) with 8:41 left.
A jumper by Hinnenkamp with 6:42 left put Dickinson back up ten, before Ursinus closed the half on a 13-3 run to go up three at intermission 29-26 on a layup by Draper.
In the second half, Ursinus would see Dickinson retake the lead at 35-33 with 16:37 left on a jumper by Hinnenkamp. A basket by sophomore forward Patrick Mekongo (Yaounde, Cameroon/Pope John XXIII) with 14:10 left gave the Bears the lead back at 37-36.
With the Bears trailing 40-39 with 10:43 left, Ursinus went on a 7-0 run capped by a jumper from freshman forward Andrew Wieczenski (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) with 8:33 left for a 46-40 lead.
After scoring their last field goal of the game on a three-pointer by Knowles with 3:52 left to go up 52-46, Ursinus saw Dickinson get to within two at 52-50 with 1:32 left on a layup by senior forward Steve Collins.
Ursinus, on its next possession, got called for a shot clock violation with 53 seconds left. On Dickinson's next possession, Hinnenkamp's layup did not fall and freshman forward Joseph LoStracco (Chalfont, Pa./Archbishop Wood) was fouled getting the rebound. After making 1-of-2 foul shots, Ursinus held a 53-50 lead with 34 seconds leff.
Janicot would go to the line after picking up a rebound following a missed three by Collins, but, missed both foul shots with 18 seconds left. Dickinson came down and called timeout to set up the final shot with two seconds left.
Inbounding from the far sideline, a three-pointer by Wixted from just inside the top of the key hit the front of the rim to end the game.
Janicot's 15 rebounds helped the Bears get a 37-36 edge on the glass. Freshman guard Brian Rafferty (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) had five assists to zero turnovers, with Draper picking up four steals.
Ursinus now finds itself one game back of Gettysburg for the fifth and final playoff spot with two weeks left in the season. The Bears have the tiebreaker with the Bullets as they swept the season series, but, Ursinus faces a tough test on Wednesday as they make a late season trip to Franklin & Marshall.