COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – A hot-shooting blitz over the first ten minutes of the second half was more than enough to separate the Ursinus College men's basketball for a 79-66 Centennial Conference victory over visiting Gettysburg, lifting the Bears into a three-way tie for first place atop the league standings.
After going wild for 27 points in Thursday's win at Dickinson, senior Matt Knowles tacked on 25 more on Saturday for Ursinus (9-6, 6-2), which moved level with Swarthmore and the Red Devils after the Garnet suffered a home loss to Franklin & Marshall. Junior Zach Quattro had 13 points and five rebounds and classmate Remi Janicot added 10 points and six rebounds, both doing most of their damage during a scorching fireworks display out of the second-half gates.
Trailing 34-32 after a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by the Bullets (4-11, 3-5), Ursinus made sure the game's 12th lead change would be its last. Janicot pulled the home team even with a spin move and lay-up, and after three free throws by sophomore Eric Williams Jr., Quattro answered a Pete Christ 3 with one of his own to put the Bears ahead to stay at 40-37 with 18:16 to play.
Knowles sandwiched a lay-up and quick-fire 3-pointer around a drive by Quattro to stretch the margin to seven, and Janicot bulled his way to the bucket for two points of his own to make it 51-42. After a free throw by Gettysburg, sophomore Zack Muredda's 3-pointer capped a 9-0 run that also included buckets by Knowles, freshman Shane Stark, and Janicot. Quattro's ball fake and short jumper polished off an extended 17-3 burst for the Bears, who made 11 of their first 13 shots in the second-half and scored 32 points in the first 10:44 of the stanza. The spread never dipped below 11 the rest of the way.
Knowles finished 8 of 15 from the field in his fifth career outing with at least 25 points, adding 7 of 9 at the foul line. Janicot made all five of his field goals, and Quattro was 6 of 11 to reach double figures for the fifth straight game and seventh time in his last eight contests.
Stark tallied eight points and four rebounds, Eric Williams had six points, and Muredda and junior Joseph LoStracco contributed five apiece.
Ursinus shot 60.7 percent in the second half (17 of 28) to push their overall accuracy to 50.0 percent (28 of 56). The Bears were 23 of 37 inside the arc and went 18 of 21 at the line, committing only two turnovers after halftime and eight for the game. Junior Brian Rafferty led the way with four assists.
Cody Kiefer put up 23 points and eight rebounds for the Bullets, who shot 47.1 percent from the field (24 for 51) but struggled at the line (10 for 19). Pete Christ supplied 14 points with four 3-pointers. Gettysburg hit six triples in the first half but was just 2 for 11 from behind the arc after intermission.
The lead changed hands 11 times (among six ties) in the first half, the last coming when Cameron Stewart buried a deep 3-pointer at the first-period buzzer to send the Bullets into the break with a two-point advantage. Knowles came out hot for the Bears, scoring six of the team's first eight points, and LoStracco and Stark provided 11 combined points off the bench, most of them in the latter stages of the frame. Christ knocked down three triples and shared the first-half scoring load with Kiefer for Gettysburg, which was outscored 16-6 in the paint but countered with six 3-pointers to just one for the Bears.
Winners of three straight, the men's basketball team heads to Muhlenberg for a CC battle on Wednesday, January 18.
