COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Bears Men's Basketball team was able to fend off McDaniel by a score of 84-79 on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action at Helfferich Hall.
With the win, the Bears improved to 5-1 overall behind their fourth-straight win and 3-0 in Centennial Conference play. Meanwhile, the Green Terror fell to 3-4 overall and 0-3 in conference action.
Senior Ryan Hughes registered his fourth-straight double-double as he tied for the game lead with 22 points and recorded 11 rebounds and five assists. Freshman Sean Neylon added a career-high 20 points and grabbed four rebounds along with one assist. Junior Kyle Maurer continued his strong play with 17 points and two assists while freshman Cole Grubbs recorded a season-high five blocks.
McDaniel opened the first half with the first five points of the game and the Bears quickly pulled back in to make it a one-point game at 9-8 with 17:19 remaining in the first half. The Green Terror used a 9-2 run to go up 18-10 at the 14:28-mark of the first half, but the Bears countered with a 9-4 run to pull within three points at 22-19. McDaniel struck back again with another 9-2 run to take their largest lead of the half at 30-21 with 9:21 remaining in the first half. Ursinus found its groove over the next two minutes as they reeled off 10-straight points to go up 31-30 at the 5:54-mark of the first half. Neylon broke a 31-all tie with a three-pointer just over a minute later and Grubbs followed the momentum with a thunderous dunk off a missed shot. Hughes closed the first half out for the Bears with their final four points to give them a 40-37 lead into halftime.
Much like the first half, both teams came out strong from the field as they combined to make their first nine shots to leave the Bears up 52-46 at the 17:26-mark. The teams continued to trade baskets until Hughes broke the back-and-forth action with a successful three-point play to leave the Bears up 57-50 at the 15:35-mark. The Green Terror pulled within three points of Ursinus at 58-55 before a Neylon layup put them back up five at the 13:49-mark. Five-straight points from junior Kyle Maurer put the Bears up to their largest lead of the half at 67-59 with 11:10 left in the second half, but McDaniel continued to hang around. With Ursinus up 73-67, a three-pointer from the Green Terror drew them within three points at 73-70 with 6:26 left in regulation. Sophomore Trevor Wall used his first field goal of the contest to put the Bears up 75-70 and a pair of free throws to keep Ursinus up five at 77-72. Another three-pointer from the Green Terror pulled them within two points, but Hughes was able to collect his own rebound on a miss and put the Bears up 79-75 with 3:09 remaining in regulation. Freshman Marlin Wise collected an important offensive rebound at the 1:54-mark that allowed Wall to put the Bears up 81-77 with 1:38 remaining in regulation. The Green Terror cut the Bears lead down to 81-79 on a layup with 38 seconds left in regulation, but Neylon came up clutch for Ursinus on their next possession with a made step back jumper from the free throw line to put the Bears back up two possessions. McDaniel missed a three-pointer with three seconds left to seal the win for the Bears.
The Bears shot 48.4 percent from the field (31-of-64) and 39.3 percent (11-of-28) from beyond the arc. Ursinus went 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line and outscored the Green Terror in second chance points at 14-9. Meanwhile, McDaniel went 45.5 percent (30-of-66) from the field and 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from three-point range. The Green Terror went a solid 12-of-15 (80%) from the free throw line and held a 41-33 advantage in rebounds.
McDaniel had four players score in double-figures for the contest, led by Carter Truby with a team-high 18 points behind going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. David Smoot III added 13 points, six rebounds, and three blocks while Kaelen Kanealey just missed on a double-double with 10 points along with nine rebounds.
Ursinus will return to action on Tuesday, December 7th as they will host FDU-Florham in non-conference action at 7:30 p.m.