LANCASTER, PA - Ursinus College placed four players in double-digits as the Bears rallied to hold off Franklin & Marshall College 86-80 in Centennial Conference men's basketball at the Mayser Center.
For the Bears (8-4, 4-1 Centennial Conference), guard Nick Shattuck led the way tallying 20 points, while point guard Mike McGarvey netted 17 points, guard Brian McEvily added 16 points and forward Matt Fabian chipped in 12 points as the Ursinus starters combined to tally 73 of the Bears' 86 points.
Trailing 48-33 at halftime, Franklin & Marshall (7-5, 2-3 Centennial Conference) trimmed the margin to 11 points as center Derek Hines (So., Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) and forward Bryan Teschke (Jr., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) hit lay-ups at 19:12 and 18:41, respectively. Shattuck stopped the run with a jumper and a free throw as the Bears went on a 7-4 run to inch the lead back to 16 points. Forward Brandon Smith (Sr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) made a lay-up and a pair of free throws to pull the Diplomats back to within 12 at 55-43 with 16:09, but guard Brett Jenkins hit a three-pointer before forward Joe Scholz and McEvily made lay-ups to account for a 7-0 spurt to go ahead 62-43.
F&M countered the run as Smith hit a lay-up at 14:22 off a Bears' turnover as the Diplomats went on a 7-0 run to slice the lead to 62-50 with 12:47 to play. Ursinus responded with a 9-2 run to go back in front by 19 points at 71-52 with 10:45 to play.
The points marked the last Ursinus would score over the next three minutes as Hines hit a jumper at 10:17, Teschke made the back-end of a one-and-one at 9:55, Smith hit a jumper at 9:27 and lay-ups at 9:01 and 8:49 before guard Adam Leonard (So., Muncy, PA/Muncy) swished a jumper at 8:02 and a three-pointer at 7:36 to pull F&M to within 71-66.
However, the Bears clawed their way back to a 10 points lead as Shattuck knocked down a pair of free throws at 6:59 and McGarvey hit a three-pointer at 6:06, while Smith missed three free throws, to put the Bears in front 76-66.
Franklin & Marshall began to climb back into the game as Teschke made a lay-up at 5:47 and Pat Przybylowski (So., Brick, NJ/Brick) connected on a three-pointer at 5:17 to put the score at 76-71. Ursinus inched the lead back to six points as Will Furey made the back-end of a one-and-one to go ahead 77-71 with 5:06 to play before forward Evan Hamme (So., Falls Church, VA/George Mason) made a lay-up at 4:48 to set the margin at 77-73 with 4:48 to play.
However, Fabian hit a hook at 3:50, as the Diplomats were unable to cut the lead below five points the rest of the way as the Bears held on for the 86-80 win.
The story of the half was Ursinus' control of the ball as the Bears committed 16 turnovers to the Diplomats' three, and F&M's free throw shooting as the Diplomats made five-of-17 at the charity stripe to Ursinus' 13-of-18 performance at the line.
The game was nip-and-tuck from the opening tap in the first half as Hines knocked down a jumper at 19:26 for a quick 2-0 F&M lead. The lead was tied or changed hands 10 times in the game's first 10 minutes before McEvily hit a three-pointer at 9:41 to put Ursinus ahead 24-21 and start an 8-0 run to put the Bears in front for good.
F&M sliced the lead to 31-28 with 6:20 left in the first half, but Ursinus went on a 17-5 run to close out the half for a 15-point lead at the break.
For F&M, Smith finished with a game high 25 points as he made 11-of-22 from the field, including one-of-seven from beyond the arc, and two-of-eight at the free throw line with five rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and five steals in 29 minutes. Historically, he raised his career totals to 1,336 points, 579 rebounds, 237 assists, 60 blocks and 182 steals in 102 games as he surpassed Duran Searles '04 (1,320) and Phil Hoeker '89 (1,333) for 10th on the all-time scoring list at the College. Further, he moved within two points of eclipsing Allen Taylor '82 (1,338) for ninth among all-players in program history.
In addition to Smith, point guard Logan Outerbridge (Jr., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) and Teschke each chipped in 11 points as the F&M starters were outscored 73-58, while the Diplomats' bench outscored Ursinus' 22-13.
The key to the game was free throws as F&M shot seven-of-20 (35.0%) from the charity stripe, including five-of-17 (29.4%) in the second half. while Ursinus knocked down 14-of-20 (70.0%) and 13-of-18 (72.2%) in the second half.
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on January 10 at Muhlenberg College. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.
