COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team shot a sizzling 62.5-percent in the second half but it wasn't enough to overcome Franklin & Marshall's sizeable halftime advantage as the Bears fell, 81-62, on Senior Day.
Ursinus (15-10, 12-6) was locked into the third seed regardless of the result and will face second-seeded Johns Hopkins in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference tournament on Friday at top-seeded Swarthmore.
The Bears honored seniors Zack Muredda, Eric Williams Jr., Matt Williams, and graduating junior Jake O'Neill in a ceremony before the regular-season finale which highlighted their contributions to the school and basketball program.
All four Ursinus veterans got the nod in the starting lineup for the Bears. But the playoff-hungry Diplomats (15-10, 9-9) came out of the gates strong as they needed a victory for any hope at getting into the postseason. Franklin & Marshall, the worst 3-point shooting team in the conference at just over 27 percent coming in, nailed its first four triples and finished 8-of-15 (53.3%) for the game.
The Bears, who entered the game 8th in Division III at 41-plus percent from beyond the arc, made just 3-of-14 (21.4%). The Diplomats' energetic defense, that leads the conference in steals and ranks second in scoring defense, made life difficult for Ursinus and shut out Eric Williams, the newly minted CC all-time 3-point field goal leader. The senior sharpshooter had his remarkable streak of 41 consecutive games with a trifecta snapped. He finished with just six points.
However, Ursinus did outshot Franklin & Marshall from the field by a very slim margin. The Bears matched their conference-leading 48-percent field goal shooting clip. The Dips shot just under 47 percent.
F&M hauled in 39 rebounds, 14 of them offensive, and registered 18 second-chance points. The Bears tallied just 23 rebounds and two second-chance points.
Franklin & Marshall controlled the first half, going up by as many as 16 points (33-17) with five minutes to play in the stanza. Muredda cut the lead to 35-25 when he finished off an old-fashioned 3-point play at the 1:18 mark, but Les Thomas nailed a corner trey to give the Diplomats a 38-25 lead at intermission. Muredda, the CC steal leader, finished with five steals and seven points.
Matt Williams impressed in the first half in his Senior Day start, scoring seven points and grabbing six boards to shine for the Bears early on.
Ursinus showed more life in the second half even after trailing by its largest deficit of 19 points (51-32) just over four minutes into the last half. The Bears hit an incredible 14 of their first 18 shots, getting as close as five before F&M pulled away. Ursinus got things going with the hot shooting to mount a 13-0 run to get within 51-45, holding the Diplomnats scoreless for nearly five minutes.
Eric Williams drove baseline and shielded himself with the rim to cut it to 10 (51-41) before junior Ryan McTamney converted an and-one under the basket. McTamney led the Bears with 18 points.
A free throw from sophomore reserve George Gordon capped the run before Matt Redhead's three-point play off a put-back. Redhead was a pest on the offensive boards, coming away with four offensive caroms for a total of seven and 15 points.
Gordon's 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting were one shy of his career high.
F&M gained some room, going up 60-50 after a Zach Ravitz layup with nine minutes to go but the Bears got closer yet again. Ravitz went 9-of-14 from the floor for 18 points and six rebounds in his reserve role.
Freshman Ryan Hughes buried a trey from McTamey, then a steal led to Williams finding McTamney on the fast break as Ursinus found itself down just 60-55 with 7:17 left. Hughes did a little bit of everything for the Bears; he chipped in seven points, handed out four helpers, and registered four steals.
Gordon threw down a dunk to stay within five points at 62-57 with 6:26 to play, but The Dips hit timely baskets down the stretch and delivered from the free throw line to break away from the Bears. F&M made all but one freebie on 20 tries.
Thomas nailed a 3-point dagger from the top of the key dagger to go up 71-60 at the 4:23 mark.
Point guard Justin Kupa scored a game-high 19 points, most of his damage coming from the stripe where he went 12-of-13. Kupa contributed seven rebounds, six assists and three steals to his stat line.
Both squads committed 20 turnovers.