ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team wound up on the top side of a seesaw battle at Eastern tonight, making a plethora of big plays in a wild final minute to come away with an 84-80 non-conference conquest. Freshman guard Eric Williams (Plainfield, N.J./Hun School) canned a career-high seven 3-pointers en route to a team-best 23 points for the Bears, who completed their non-conference slate with a second consecutive victory.
Junior guard Matt Knowles (Waverly, Pa./Scranton Prep) scored 20 points and sophomore forward Joseph LoStracco (Chalfont, Pa./Archbishop Wood) registered his third career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for Ursinus (4-6), which needed a late rally to win at Eastern for the first time.
Trailing 78-76 after Eastern (6-6) junior Austin Carroll knocked down a jumper with 57 seconds remaining, LoStracco outfought an Eagle for a critical offensive rebound and dished off to senior guard Malik Draper (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) for the game-tying layup. With only 31 seconds to play, the home side could have held for a final shot, but the Eagles misfired on a jump shot and LoStracco came down with the board again. This time he was fouled, and promptly made the go-ahead free throws on the other end.
Eastern's Shaquan Turk, who came in leading the MAC Freedom Conference in field-goal percentage, rose up for a potential tying jumper on the ensuing possession, but Bears senior guard Mark Wonderling (Lederach, Pa./Souderton Area) stripped him on the way up and passed off to Knowles, who was fouled and buried both free throws for an 82-78 lead with 12 ticks showing. The Eagles cut the deficit to two with a bucket, but Williams calmly connected on a pair of free throws with two seconds left to ice it.
All 14 of Williams' shot attempts came from beyond the arc, and he made half of them, the most 3-pointers by a Bear since Ryan Adams hit seven against William Peace last January. Four other Ursinus players scored in double figures; that included Knowles, who went 6 of 12 from the floor and 6 of 8 from the line for his third game of at least 20 points in the last five, and LoStracco, who added three assists and four blocks to continue his domination of Eastern. A year ago, the big man made all 11 of his shots and finished with 24 points in a 100-92 win in Collegeville.
Draper had ten points and ten rebounds for his first double-double of the season, and the fourth of his career. Sophomore guard Brian Rafferty (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) matched him with ten markers to go with a team-best six assists for the Bears, who outrebounded the Eagles, 44-32, and drained 11 triples.
Turk led all scorers with 26 points for Eastern, 18 of them coming in a first half that saw the Eagles go ahead 36-28 before Ursinus rattled off eight straight. Turk's last-second basket put Eastern up 38-36 at the break, and the Eagles continued to stay abreast of the Bears until the Red and Gold made their move with three and a half minutes to play. Down 73-67, a jumper by Rafferty and fast-break basket by Knowles got Ursinus to within two and, after an Eastern foul shot, the Bears pulled even on a challenged trey by Williams from the right corner, making it 74-all with 1:55 left. Carroll and Draper traded field goals on the next two possessions to set up the thrilling final minute.
Ursinus shot 49.1 percent from the floor (28 of 57) and assisted on 21 of its 28 made field goals. Rafferty swiped a career-high three steals, and sophomore forward Remi Janicot (Paris, France/Hun School) collected nine rebounds. Wonderling finished with four points, eight rebounds, a pair of assists, and that game-saving steal in the final seconds.
The Bears look to build on their winning streak when they return to their Centennial Conference schedule with a 6:00 p.m. contest at Washington College on Thursday, January 7.