COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a balanced scoring attack, the Ursinus Men's Basketball team outlasted Muhlenberg 77-71 on Tuesday night in Centennial Conference action at Helfferich Hall.
With the win, the Bears improve to 4-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in Centennial action. Meanwhile, the Mules fell to 2-5 overall on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
Senior Ryan Hughes fell just short of a triple-double as he led the Bears with 16 points, a career-high 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Freshman Cole Grubbs recorded his first collegiate double-double behind 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and hauling down 10 rebounds. Junior Kyle Maurer added 14 points, with 12 coming in the second half, along with three rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Maurer went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in the victory. Freshman Sean Neylon rounded out the Bears in double-figures with 12 points and grabbed four rebounds. Senior Peyton Vostenak went a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range to provide nine points off the bench for the Bears.
Both teams came out strong on offense as the Bears went 4-of-7 from the field in the first five minutes to take a 10-7 advantage at the 15:36-mark of the first half. Vostenak and Neylon buried back-to-back three-pointers after the Mules hit one of their own to put the Bears up 16-10 at the 13:53-mark of the first half. Ursinus continued to maintain its lead throughout the first half as they continued to answer any run the Mules tried to put together. Leading 21-20, the Bears continued to stay red-hot from the field as they reeled of five-straight points to take a 26-20 lead with 8:46 to go in the first half. Ursinus countered with a 7-2 run after Muhlenberg pulled within two points at 26-24 to take a 33-26 advantage with 5:54 left in the first half. The Bears were able to take their largest lead of the first half at 41-32 with 44 seconds left in the first half before a successful three-point play from the Mules brought the score to 41-35 at halftime.
The Mules opened the second half on a 5-2 spurt to cut the Bears lead down to 43-40 at the 17:24-mark. However, much like the first half, Ursinus countered Muhlenberg's runs with scoring bursts of their own as they drained a pair of three-pointers to take a 49-40 lead just under a minute later. The Mules used a 13-5 run to make it a 54-53 game at the 13:04-mark of the second half after going 6-of-7 from the field in that stretch. Each team traded a pair of baskets before the Mules were finally able to tie the game for the first time in the second half following a successful three-point play at the 9:58-mark. Grubbs ignited the Ursinus crowd with a dunk as a part of seven-straight points that gave the Bears a 66-59 lead with 8:32 remaining in regulation. A pair of three-pointers from Maurer put Ursinus 73-65 at the 6:34-mark as the Bears continued to maintain a lead in the second half. Both teams then went on a stretch of scoreless stretch of 4:16 following a Mules layup at the 6:05-mark of the second half. Muhlenberg converted a three-point play with 1:49 left in regulation to cut the Bears advantage down to 73-70 and got a stop plus a foul to potentially make it a one-point game. The Mules split the ensuing free throws but did not score for the rest of the contest. Hughes went a perfect 4-of-4 from the line in the final minute to ice the win for the Bears.
Ursinus shot an even 50 percent from the field (29-of-58) and went 14-of-29 (48.3%) from beyond the arc. The Bears went 5-of-6 from the free throw line and held a slight 33-32 edge in rebounds. Meanwhile, the Mule shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field and just 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from three-point range. Muhlenberg went 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the charity stripe and outscored the Bears 44-22 in the paint.
Dan Gaines paced the Mules with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field and grabbed four rebounds along with four steals. Gaines was the only player for Muhlenberg in double-figures as Justin Allen followed with eight points along with five rebounds. Nate Henty Brown recorded a game-high four blocks and tallied six points plus six rebounds.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, December 4th as they will host McDaniel at 1 p.m.