WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team was unable to overcome a slow first half as they were knocked off by McDaniel by a score of 79-63 on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action.
With the loss, the Bears drop to 8-6 overall and 5-4 in Centennial Conference play. Meanwhile, the Green Terror improved to 7-7 overall and 3-6 in conference action.
Senior Ryan Hughes led the Bears offense in points scored with 14 and posted three steals and two rebounds. Freshman Sean Neylon added 12 points behind going 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and a pair of players each tallied eight points off the bench in freshman Jaiden Jakubowski and Matt McMahon.
Sophomore Trevor Wall got things going for the Bears in the opening minute with a layup and was followed with a three-pointer from Neylon to put Ursinus up 5-2 at the 17:31-mark of the first half. The Green Terror took their first lead of the game at 12-9 following a 10-4 run at the 13:07-mark as the Bears began to struggle from the field. Ursinus went a stretch of 4:42 without a field goal as McDaniel was able to stretch its lead to 16-10. A quick 6-2 burst drew the Bears back within two points at 18-16 with 7:49 left in the first half, but the Green Terror closed the final minutes with a 20-5 run to go up 38-21 at halftime. Ursinus was held without a point for the final 4:35 and went 2-of-9 from the field after cutting the lead down to two points at 18-16.
McDaniel continued to build momentum from its dominant stretch to close out the first half as they built a 20-point lead at 45-25 at the 18:01-mark of the second half. Five quick points from the Bears cut the Green Terror lead down to 45-30 but McDaniel countered with six-straight points of their own to go back up 51-30 at the 15:09-mark. The Green Terror did not let its lead fall below 16 points until McMahon drilled a three-pointer for the Bears to make it a 69-56 contest with 5:21 left in regulation. Ursinus would not pull any closer the rest of the contest as McDaniel used timely baskets to maintain its sizable lead.
The Bears shot 42.9 percent (21-of-49) from the field and 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from three-point range. Ursinus went a solid 12-of-15 (80%) from the free throw line and scored 10 points off 13 Green Terror turnovers. Meanwhile, the Green Terror shot a sizzling 62.3 percent (33-of-53) from the field after a red-hot second half that saw them shoot 75 percent. McDaniel went 7-of-14 (50%) from three-point range and 6-of-8 (75%) from the charity stripe. The Green Terror held a sizable 32-17 advantage in rebounds and a 46-24 edge in points in the paint.
The Green Terror saw five players finish in double figures for scoring in a balanced effort from the field. Josh Sproul led the way with a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds. Mike Wallace added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and dished out a game-high six assists. Carter Truby and Charles Contee matched Wallace with 12 points on the afternoon as well.
Ursinus returns to action on Monday, January 24th as they will travel to face Washington College at 7 p.m.