COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus men's basketball team opened their 2021-22 season with a 78-70 win over Rosemont on Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall in non-conference action.
The Bears will open the season 1-0 as they played their first game in 630 days with previous coming on February 22nd, 2020. Meanwhile, the Ravens drop to 0-2 overall on the season.
Senior Ryan Hughes led the way with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds plus dished out two assists. Freshman Jaiden Jakubowski tallied 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, grabbed six rebounds, and posted five assists in his collegiate debut off the bench. Junior Kyle Maurer added 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and grabbed two rebounds, while sophomore Trevor Wall matched him with 11 points. Freshman Cole Grubbs hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds, scored six points, and blocked two shots in the win.
Rosemont took advantage of a cold start from the field for the Bears to take an 11-4 lead at the 14:34-mark of the first half behind a trio of three-pointers. Ursinus stormed back with seven-straight points to tie the game at 11 just over a minute and a half later. Rosemont went back up at 18-14 before the Bears went on a 10-0 to take their first lead at 24-18 with 8:07 left in the first half. Ursinus went 4-of-5 from the field in that stretch with a pair being three-pointers. The Ravens countered with a 9-1 run to take the lead back at 27-25 with 5:24 left in the first half until Hughes struck back with a three-pointer to put Ursinus up 28-27. The teams traded the lead four times in the final 4:23 which left the Bears up 34-32. Senior Matt McMahon gave Ursinus the lead before halftime on a three-pointer with 56 seconds left in the first half.
The Ravens came out strong to start the second half as they used a 12-2 run in the first 4:49 of the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 44-36. Rosemont went 4-of-5 from the field in that stretch while the Bears went 1-of-5. However, the Bears came alive with three-straight three-pointers to take a 45-44 advantage at the 13:07-mark of the second half. Rosemont responded with six-straight points to take a 50-45 lead before the Bears stormed back with six-straight points to go back up 51-50 at the 9:57-mark. Following a three-pointer to put the Ravens up 53-51, the Bears went on a 13-2 run to take a 64-55 lead at the 6:34-mark of the second half behind another trio of three-pointers. Ursinus took their largest lead of the game at 68-57 with 5:02 left in regulation following a pair of free throws from Jakubowski. Rosemont made one last charge at the Bears by pulling within five points at 73-68 with 40 seconds left in the second half. However, Hughes came up big with a block on the Ravens end and Ursinus went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to preserve the win.
Ursinus shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the field and went 13-of-30 (43.3%) from beyond the arc. The Bears went 9-of-15 (60%) and held a slight 35-34 edge in rebounds along with an 18-2 edge in Fastbreak points. Meanwhile, the Ravens shot 46.2 percent (30-of-65) from the field and went 7-of-21 (33.3%) from three-point range. Rosemont went just 3-of-8 from the free throw line in the loss (37.5%). Marlon Sharpton led the Ravens with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists, nearly missing a triple-double. Zaire Mitchell and Tyler Petroski each added 12 points for Rosemont as well.
The Bears will return to action on Wednesday, November 17th as they will travel to face TCNJ at 8 p.m.