SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team took the number one team down to the wire for the second time this season as the Bears fell to No. 1 Swarthmore, 81-76.

After a thrilling first meeting that saw the Garnet win in the final seconds, Wednesday's game was no different.

The Bears (8-7, 3-6 CC) fell behind early to the top team in the nation as Swarthmore jumped out to an 8-2 lead at home. However, Ryan McTamney hit a jumper that sparked an 8-0 run for Ursinus, capped off by a make from Trey Koehler that put the Bears up 10-8.

The two sides then matched each other shot for shot, trading a three lead changes. After the Bears took a 12-10 lead on a Lukas Olshevski lay-up, both teams exchanged three consecutive makes from beyond the arc. A Ryan Hughes jumper tied the score at 24 before a 12-5 run by Swarthmore put the Garnet up 36-29 late in the half.

The Bears would end the opening 20 minutes with four free throws from Bruce Edwards and Koehler to go into the locker room trailing by three, 36-33.

Swarthmore (16-0, 9-0) took a 44-37 lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but back-to-back shots from Hughes and George Gordon followed by a trey from Jimmy Kpadeh started a 13-0 run for the Bears that put them back up 50-44.

The Garnet finally snapped a 6:30 minute scoring drought coming out of a timeout, but it would not stop the Bears' momentum. Kpadeh stepped back from beyond the arc and drilled a 3 before Koehler followed with a pull-up pop in transition, giving Ursinus a commanding 10-point lead, 56-46.

The Bears led by nine with 14 minutes to play in the first meeting and they led by nine (60-51) with 9:13 to play on Wednesday after a Kpadeh lay-up. However, like in the first meeting, the Garnet would not go quietly.

Consecutive Swarthmore 3-pointers saw the Bears' nine-point lead quickly drop down to three and then a lay-up on the fast break off a steal brought it down to one.

A pair of free throws by Hughes put the Bears back up by three, but a third make from beyond the arc by the Garnet tied the game at 64 with six minutes remaining. Swarthmore would then take its first lead since 16:59 remaining with yet another 3, going up 68-67.

Neither side seemed to be able to miss down the stretch with the two teams matching each other basket for basket. Edwards re-took the lead for the Bears with a lay-up before the Garnet responded with a lay-up of their own at the other end.

With just three minutes to play and trailing 69-68, the Garnet continued to hit shots. Consecutive jumpers put Swarthmore up by five, but the Bears remained close with makes from the charity stripe.

Down by six with under 30 seconds to play, Edwards hit his first three of the game and in a big moment to keep the Bears within one score at 77-74. However, Swarthmore remained steady with its free throws and was able to close out the game.

It was another close game for the Bears against the top team in the nation. The Garnet have defeated teams by an average of 14 points this season while Ursinus held nine-point leads late in both games in what ended in two- and five-point losses.

As a team, Ursinus out-shot Swarthmore 44.3% to 42.9 which included 37.5% to 31% from beyond the arc. Three Bears ended in double-digit scoring. Leading the way was Hughes with 22 as he shot 53.3% from the field. Behind him were Gordon (15) and McTamney (10).

After a three-game road trip, the Bears are back home on Saturday when they take on Franklin & Marshalll.