COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team raced out to a 20-point lead in the first eight minutes and change tonight, going up by as much as 32 in a 79-53 rout of visiting Washington College. Senior guard Malik Draper produced a game-high 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting to headline four players in double figures for the Bears, who shot 64.3 percent in the first half and outrebounded the Shoremen by a 47-21 count.
Sophomore forward Remi Janicot rolled up 12 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while senior guard Mark Wonderling turned in his best performance of the year with 12 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Sophomore guard Brian Rafferty finished with ten points and eight boards for the Bears, who pulled even with McDaniel in the Centennial Conference playoff race ahead of a critical matchup on Saturday.
Ursinus (10-10, 6-7) jumped all over the Shoremen from the opening tip, making seven of its first eight shots. Five of those came from Draper, who bulled his way to the cup on a number of occasions, one of them off a nifty spin move in the lane, and reached double figures less than five minutes into the game.
The Bears needed less than nine minutes to open up a 20-point lead, making 15 of their first 21 attempts from the floor. After Draper's initial explosion, back-to-back buckets by sophomore forward Joseph LoStracco pushed the margin to 20-5. The advantage ballooned to 25-5 after a 3-pointer by Janicot and a strong up-and-under by senior guard Mark Wonderling, and the rout was on.
The last-place Shoremen, however, refused to lie down, connecting on their next five shots to begin an inspired comeback effort. A 10-0 spurt got Washington College (3-17, 1-12) to within single digits for the first time since it was 12-4 less than four minutes in, as Gabe Ceribelli and Brandon Berry bookended the run with deep 3-pointers, and the Shoremen got as close as eight after Berry swished two free throws to make it a 40-32 spread. But sophomore guard Brian Rafferty buried a left-wing 3-ball with 19 seconds left in the period, restoring the Bears to a double-digit margin at the break.
Ursinus committed ten turnovers in the first half, but counteracted their mistakes by shooting 64.3 percent (18 of 28) and making six triples – half of them out of the hands of freshman swingman Matt Williams – and outrebounding Washington College, 19-9.
Washington College missed its first six shots out of the intermission and Ursinus took advantage, rattling off the first eight points of the second stanza, a run capped by back-to-back and-ones from Wonderling that made it 51-32. The differential reached 20 again after Wonderling fed Janicot for an easy basket inside, just the beginning of a 23-5 burst that quickly upped the lead to 32. Draper had consecutive baskets before one by Rafferty and two free throws from freshman guard Matt Margolis brought the spread to 30 at 69-39. Margolis' 3-pointer at the 6-minute mark stretched the lead to its largest number of the night at 74-42.
After the Shoremen got to within eight late in the first half, Ursinus' run over the next 15-plus minutes reached 34-10. Ursinus scored 48 of its points in the paint. In two games with Washington College this season, the Bears rang up a 93-41 advantage on the glass.
Junior forward Patrick Mekongo powered down a big dunk on a pass from Margolis with 3:54 remaining for a ringing exclamation point, and freshman forward Paul Cottam made a free throw with 2:29 left for his first collegiate points.
Berry led Washington College with 13 points, while James Drury chipped in eight to go with four assists. Ursinus held the Shoremen to 1 of 11 from behind the arc after halftime, and just 17 of 56 (30.4 percent) from the floor for the game.
Ursinus now sits tied with McDaniel for sixth in the league standings, just a half-game back of fifth-place Dickinson. The teams square off in Westminster on Saturday, continuing a stretch of four games in nine days for the Bears.