COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Swarthmore and Ursinus went toe to toe all the way to the final buzzer during their Centennial Conference men's basketball opener tonight. Unfortunately, the Bears found themselves on the short end of the eighth and final lead change, and the visiting Garnet escaped Helfferich Hall with a 63-58 decision in a tense tilt featuring 43 fouls.
Freshman guard Eric Williams scored all 13 of his points in the second half for Ursinus (1-2, 0-1), including a 3-pointer from the right wing off a an inside-out look from sophomore forward Joseph LoStracco (Chalfont, Pa./Archbishop Wood) that cut the Swarthmore (3-0, 1-0) lead to 51-49 with 5:29 remaining. Sophomore forward Remi Janicot (Paris France/Hun School of Princeton) then converted a steal into a lay-up at the other end, bringing about the seventh and last deadlock of an evenly matched affair.
The two sides traded baskets over the next several possessions, and the Bears nosed in front, 55-54, on a nice connection from senior guard Malik Draper (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) to LoStracco at the 2:19 mark. But Garnet sophomore Matt Brennan proved a thorn in the home team's side, drilling a straightaway 3-pointer to put Swarthmore in front for good and following with a drive down the lane for a lefty lay-in, facing Ursinus with a 59-55 deficit and forcing a timeout.
The Bears came up empty on their next two trips, and Garnet sophomore Zack Yonda made a pair at the stripe to supply a six-point cushion with 24 seconds left. Ursinus made things interesting when sophomore guard Brian Rafferty (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) corralled a loose ball and fed Eric Williams for a second-chance 3 that chopped the deficit in half with 10.9 ticks showing. The Garnet inbounded to Yonda, who calmly sank two free throws to end Ursinus' hopes.
Draper's tight defense limited Yonda – the Centennial Conference's leading scorer at 23.5 points per game entering tonight's contest – to a pair of field goals and just eight points, but Brennan kept Swarthmore humming with a game-best 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting; he made half of his eight treys, while his teammates combined to go 1-for-17 from behind the arc.
Eric Williams knocked down three triples among his 5-of-7 effort, and Janicot backed him with 12 points and six rebounds. Rafferty's all-around efforts yielded 10 points, six boards, and seven assists, and junior forward Patrick Mekongo (Yaounde, Cameroon/Pope John XXIII) finished with six points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Swarthmore proved much more effective at the line, making 14 of their 17 freebies (82.4%), while the Bears were just 13-of-22 (59.1%). Ursinus held a 34-28 rebounding advantage, but committed 15 turnovers, nine of them after halftime.
Ursinus has a week to prepare for a stiff test on Tuesday, December 1, when the Bears head to Lancaster to face off with Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats were the preseason Centennial Conference favorites and were ranked No. 19 in the d3hoops.com preseason poll.