BALTIMORE, Md. – The Ursinus Men's Basketball team locked up a berth in the Centennial Conference Tournament before suffering an 84-68 loss to No. 12 Johns Hopkins on Saturday night in their regular season finale.
With the loss, the Bears conclude the regular season with a 12-12 overall mark and a 9-9 record in Centennial action. Ursinus earned a berth to the Centennial Conference tournament thanks to Dickinson defeating Haverford in the afternoon by a score of 63-57. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays improved to 20-3 overall and 16-2 in Centennial action while sewing up the number one seed in the Centennial Tournament along with hosting rights for the semifinal and championship rounds.
Senior Ryan Hughes posted a team-high 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists against the Blue Jays. Junior Kyle Maurer added 15 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals while sophomore Trevor Wall recorded 11 points, three rebounds, and one assist.
The Bears battled back and forth with Johns Hopkins in the opening minutes as they took a 10-7 advantage at the 17:49-mark following a three-pointer from Maurer. The Blue Jays responded to tie the score at 14 before sophomore Beau Everett put Ursinus back in front with a three-pointer at the 14:50-mark. Johns Hopkins reeled off seven-straight points to take a 23-17 lead at the 12:58-mark and stretched its lead out to eight points at 29-21. Back-to-back three-pointers following a jumper from freshman Sean Neylon gave the Blue Jays their first double-digit advantage of the contest at 35-23 and the lead would go no lower than eight points for the rest of the first half. Ursinus closed the first half with momentum after scoring six of the last eight points between the two teams, making it a 46-37 contest at halftime.
Ursinus came out strong to start the second half as they opened with six-straight points to cut the deficit down to 46-43 at the 17:59-mark. However, the Blue Jays responded with a 9-2 run to push the lead back to double-digits at 55-45 with 15:09 left in the second half. Ursinus looked to make another run at the Blue Jays, but Johns Hopkins responded to three baskets in a row from the Bears with second chance points to maintain a 66-54 lead at the 9:43-mark. The Blue Jays did not let their lead fall into single-digits for the remainder of the contest and built a lead by as many as 19 points at the 4:43-mark of the second half.
The Bears shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) from the field and just 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from three-point range. Ursinus went 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line and scored 12 points off nine Blue Jay turnovers. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins shot 50 percent (33-of-66) from the field and 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from three-point range. The Blue Jays went a near perfect 8-of-9 (88.9%) from the free throw line and held a sizable 43-29 rebounding advantage that led to a 15-4 edge in second chance points.
Conner Delaney paced the Blue Jays with a game-high 26 points and recorded five rebounds along with four assists. Carson James added 14 points and six rebounds off the bench and Sidney Thybulle nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Ursinus opens the Centennial Conference Tournament on Tuesday, February 22nd as they will travel to face Dickinson at a time to be determined. Stay tuned to ursinusathletics.com for more information on the postseason contest.