COLLEGEVILLE – The Ursinus men's basketball team gave No. 12 ranked Johns Hopkins all it could handle before eventually falling 99-90 on Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall in Centennial Conference play.
The loss drops the Bears to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in Centennial play, but Ursinus ended up taking two of its three Centennial contests during this past week. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays improved to 11-2 overall and 7-1 in Centennial play.
Senior Ryan Hughes recorded his third 20+ point game of the week with a team-high 22 points and added four assists plus two rebounds. Junior Kyle Maurer posted 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore Trevor Wall tallied 15 points after going 3-of-5 from the field and a strong 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Freshman Sean Neylon added 10 points and senior Peyton Vostenak posted his third-straight double-digit scoring effort of the week with 10 points.
The Blue Jays opened the game by making three of its first four shots and took an early 9-3 advantage at the 17:26-mark of the first half. Ursinus quickly battled its way back and took its first lead of the contest at 15-12 at the 12:59-mark following an 12-3 run. Johns Hopkins responded with an 11-4 run to go back in front at 23-19 at the 9:50-mark before the Bears struck back again with a 12-4 run of their own to take a 31-27 advantage with 6:34 remaining in the first half. The Blue Jays took a timeout following a turnover on its next possession and used a 13-5 run to go up 40-36 at the 2:59-mark. Johns Hopkins maintained its lead out to 42-38, but it was the Bears that closed the first half with momentum after scoring the final four points to knot the score at 42.
Johns Hopkins once again took the quick advantage to start the half as they used a 7-2 run to go up 49-44 at the 17:34-mark. Ursinus countered with six-straight points to go back up 50-49 at the 16:37-mark that was capped with a three-pointer from Neylon. The teams then combined for seven lead changes which left the Blue Jays back up at 61-60 with 11:20 remaining in the second half. Johns Hopkins reeled off eight-straight points after trailing 60-59 and went up 67-60 at the 10:01-mark. The Bears closed back within three points at 69-66 with 9:04 remaining in the first half but would get no closer the rest of the way. Johns Hopkins was finally able to pull away from the Bears behind a dominant 43-22 edge on the glass which led to a 17-0 advantage in second chance points.
The Bears shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) from the field and 11-of-27 (40.7%) from beyond the arc. Ursinus went 25-of-29 (86.2%) from the free throw line and held an 11-4 edge in fastbreak points. Johns Hopkins also shot 50.9 percent (29-of-57) from the field and just 5-of-20 (20%) from three-point range.
Reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Year, Conner Delaney, lifted the Blue Jays offense with a game-high 39 points and grabbed five rebounds. Chid Nnake posted 21 points off the bench behind going 8-of-10 from the field while also tallying seven rebounds. Sidney Thybulle recorded 13 points off 5-of-8 shooting along with three rebounds.
Ursinus now looks ahead to another showdown against a nationally-ranked opponent on Wednesday, January 19th as they will host No. 16 Swarthmore at 7:30 p.m.