COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – For the vast majority of tonight's contest, the Ursinus College men's basketball team went toe to toe with a high-powered Gettysburg squad with only one Centennial Conference loss. But a seven-minute scoring drought to end the first half doomed the Bears to a 65-59 setback inside Helfferich Hall.
Sophomore guard Brian Rafferty netted a career-high 18 points for Ursinus (6-8, 2-5), which led by as much as 12 midway through the opening stanza before an extended slump allowed Gettysburg (10-3, 6-1) to uncork an 18-0 run heading into the break, and the Bears never recovered. Sophomore forward Remi Janicot just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while classmate Joseph LoStracco and freshman guard Eric Williams matched him with nine points apiece.
Ursinus came out firing on all cylinders, connecting on 10 of its first 17 shots – including five 3-pointers – to stun the Bullets with a 27-15 lead at the 7:01 mark of the period. Rafferty and freshman Matt Williams hit two triples each in the Bears' barrage as senior guard Malik Draper facilitated with five assists. Ursinus hit five of its first eight from downtown, beating Gettysburg at its own preferred game.
At that point, the Bears' momentum stopped on a dime. The home side went scoreless for the rest of the half, and Gettysburg scored the last 18 points to take a 33-27 lead into intermission.
The Bullets' resurgence was largely due to the long-range exploits of Alex Kaslander, who went 6 of 8 from the floor and drilled a trio of treys to pour in 15 first-half markers. Gettysburg committed only two turnovers in the half and took advantage of nine Ursinus miscues, racking up a 14-2 advantage in points off turnovers and a 9-2 edge in second-chance points.
Ursinus closed the gap to two at 35-33 on a steal and lay-in by Draper three minutes into the second half, but Matt England and Pete Christ buried back-to-back triples to stretch the margin back out to seven after a Janicot free throw. The spread fluctuated between four and nine for much of the half, until Ursinus made its last stand.
The Bears made their move with about four minutes to play, as Rafferty drained a left-corner 3 on a feed from Draper, who stepped in front of a Bullet pass on the next possession and took it the other way for two, bringing Ursinus to within 57-54 and forcing a Gettysburg timeout with 3:27 showing on the second-half clock. However, a Kaslander free throw, a tough bucket by Cody Kiefer, and a pair of free throws by Cam Stewart silenced the uprising.
Kaslander and Stewart notched matching 20-point nights for the Bullets, with England tallying ten points and 11 rebounds. Kiefer had six rebounds and eight assists for Gettysburg, which made nine of its last 18 3-point attempts after going 1 of 13 to start the contest. The Bullets shot just 35.4 percent (23 of 65) on the night but pulled down 17 offensive rebounds to generate extra possessions.
Draper finished with seven points and six assists for Ursinus, which held a 30-16 advantage in the paint but committed 16 turnovers to just eight for Gettysburg. Matt Williams turned in his best performance to date, complementing a season-best seven points with three steals. LoStracco was 4 of 5 from the floor and grabbed five boards to go with three assists and four blocks.
Rafferty, whose previous career high of 15 points came against the Bullets last year, was 7 of 16 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Ursinus hits the road for a matchup with Johns Hopkins on Saturday.