Bears Trip Garnet
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Ursinus used solid shooting from the free throw line and an effective full-court press to pull off a come-from-behind victory over Swarthmroe 65-60 on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action.
The Garnet got off to a fast start taking a 4-2 lead following consecutive buckets by sophomore guard Noam Fliegelmann at 17:20. Swarthmore rolled with the hot hand; sophomore guard Matt Kurman sank back to back three-pointers to make it 14-8 Garnet with 13:20 on the clock.
The Bears (13-4 overall, 9-1 CC) broke out a full-court press towards the end of the half, forcing three consecutive Swarthmore turnovers. Senior guard Mike McGarvey picked the ball out the air and fed swingman Nick Shattuck for a reverse lay-up at 3:53, cutting the lead to 24-23 Swarthmore..
Garnet head coach Lee Wimberly called a time-out with a minute left in the half and encouraged the Swarthmore men to get a good shot and crash the offensive rebounds. Kurman got into the lane and missed a runner but Garnet freshman Jon Tundel was there to clean up the rebound, putting the ball in the bucket for a 26-23 Swarthmore halftime lead.
Kurman led all scorers with 10 points in the first half, followed by Ursinus' Brian McEvily with seven points. The Garnet owned the boards in the first half, out-rebounding the Bears 25-12.
The Swarthmore offense continued to click at the beginning of the second half. Fliegelman rang in a three-pointer to open the half and Kurman followed up with his own triple, pushing the Garnet lead to 32-23, its largest of the afternoon, with 18:05 left in the game.
The Bears came right back with a 10-4 run over the next 3:39, getting with one, 36-35 on a lay-up by Shattuck. Swarthmore's Ian McCormick answered with a strong move in the paint, scoring the ball to push the lead back to 38-35 Garnet.
Ursinus took its first lead at 12:30 when McEvily sank a three-pointer at 12:35, putting the Bears ahead 40-38. The squads battled back and forth for the next eight minutes, tying the score twice with the lead changing hands on three separate occasions.
Fliegelman sank another three-pointer, one of three on the afternoon, to give Swarthmore a 50-47 lead with 4:45 left in the game. The Bears countered with seven straight points to take a 55-50 with 3:12 remaining. The biggest play of the afternoon occurred with McGarvey at the free throw line shooting one-and-one, the Bears leading 52-50. McGarvey bricked the front end but forward Will Furey chased down the offensive rebound and immediately kicked the ball to McGarvey. The Ursinus' point guard let the shot fly, sinking a deep three-pointer to give the Bears their largest lead of the game.
Swarthmore continued to score on the offensive end, but each subsequent trip was followed by an Ursinus player going to the free throw line. And the Bears, tops in the Centennial Conference in free throw percentage (71%), nailed 10-of-10 from the line in the final three minutes to complete the season sweep of the Garnet.
Ursinus shot 19-of-21 (91%) from the free throw line on the afternoon. Swarthmore out-rebounding the Bears, 38-27, yet committed 23 turnovers to Ursinus' 11.
The Garnet (4-13 overall, 3-7 CC) were led by Kurman (4-of-6 from behind the arc) with 19 points and four assists. Fliegelman shot 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc for 15 points, while adding four assists. McCormick collected his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 13 points to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Bears had four players in double figures, led by Shattuck with 15.
Swarthmore will play its final home game in January this coming Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. The Garnet will host Centennial foe Washington (MD) on January 25 before hitting the road for the next three games.