WASHINGTON, DC – Suffocating defense and a big milestone propelled the Ursinus College men's basketball team to a 69-57 victory over Waynesburg in the consolation of the Catholic University Tournament this evening. Senior guard Malik Draper (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) scored eight points, the last giving him an even 1,000 for his career, and the Bears held the Jackets to just 28.6percent from the field (22 of 77) to close the 2015 portion of their schedule with a flourish.
Draper needed eight points to reach the 1,000-point plateau, and he got exactly that, making four of his seven attempts. His milestone marker came with 7:19 remaining, when he took a feed from sophomore forward Remi Janicot (Paris, France/Hun School) on a backdoor cut and elevated for a lay-up, making him the 27th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Draper added five rebounds, three assists, and three steals to his final ledger.
Freshman guard Eric Williams (Plainfield, N.J./Hun School) finished with 15 points to lead Ursinus (3-6), going 5 of 8 from beyond the three-point arc, and junior guard Matt Knowles (Waverly, Pa./Scranton Prep) addd 13 points and four assists. Sophomore guard Brian Rafferty (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds, and six assists, while Janicot was a force on the interior, racking up a season-best 15 rebounds to go with nine points. Sophomore forward Joseph LoStracco (Chalfont, Pa./Archbishop Wood) controlled 11 boards and blocked three shots to supplement eight points for the Bears, who outrebounded Waynesburg (1-9) by a 44-40 margin.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that saw Ursinus trail by as much as nine (19-10) midway through the frame. But the Bears hit five 3-pointers over the final 6:52 of the period, Williams draining one in the closing seconds to send the teams into the locker rooms knotted at 32.
Six ties and three lead changes dotted the first ten minutes of the second half, and Ursinus found itself ahead by only two (57-55) after a Jacket triple with 4:53 to play. A 3-pointer by Williams and a bucket by Rafferty gave the Bears some breathing room, and they held Waynesburg to a mere two points over the last five minutes.
Ursinus shot 50.0 percent from the floor (25 of 50), its efficiency and long-range marksmanship (10 of 23) counteracting a massive advantage in shot attempts (77-50) and turnover margin (17-8) for the Jackets. BJ Durham paced Waynesburg with 18 points.
The Jackets' 28.6-percent shooting was the lowest by a Bears opponent since Ursinus held McDaniel to 24.6 percent from the field in a 58-50 overtime triumph last season.
