Furious Garnet Rally Falls Just Short, Bears win 77-73
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Swarthmore put up 49 points in the second half, rallying from down 18 with 14 minutes to play to pull within one in the final minute, but the Ursinus Bears held on for a 77-73 home win in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon.
The score was 5-0 Ursinus after the first minute but Swarthmore went on a 15-6 run to take their largest lead of the game (15-11) with 12:49 remaining in the first half. Fast-starting junior forward Steve Wolf had eight points during the run, most of them coming on a pair of trifectas. The game remained close through most of the half, and it was 26-24, Ursinus after Garnet freshman Matt Turner hit a fast-break layup with 4:11 left in the period.
That would prove to be the Garnet's last field goal of the half, though, and the Bears extended their lead to 35-24 at the break. John Noonan hit a three with 34 seconds remaining to give the Bears their first double-digit lead of the afternoon.
The Bear defense continued to keep the Garnet under wraps early in the second half and the lead was up to 17, 44-27, with 17:10 left in the game. Junior guard Matt Kurman keyed the Garnet offensive revival with a pair of threes just 54 seconds apart. Ursinus' offense was clicking as well, though, and built the lead up to 18 at 55-37 with 13:57 to play.
Swarthmore needed stops to get back in the game and got them, holding the Bears to one field goal over a 5:55 span. The bench provided a spark, as freshman Matt Allen and senior Dillon McGrew nailed consecutive treys to cut the lead to 12, and junior center Ian McCormick got the lead back into single digits with a lay-up with 9:21 to go.
The long, slow climb continued, and a Wolf free throw with 3:59 left made it a one-possession game at 63-60. Bear forward Will Furey immediately responded from beyond the arc and the hosts continued to hold on; it was 72-67 with 49 seconds left. But Swarthmore was not done. Kurman hit a pair of free throws, and after Noonan missed a pair from the stripe, and with 25 ticks on the clock, Allen hit a layup, cutting the lead to 72-71.
But Ursinus got a big play when it needed it - Nick Shattuck converted a fast break layup off of a Furey lead just one second later. Kurman missed a lay-up for Swarthmore on the other end, and a pair of Matt Fabian free throws with 13 seconds left iced the game.
Shattuck, the league's second-leading scorer, put in a game-high 26 while Furey added 20 points. Fabian grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds for the Bears (5-1 overall, 3-1 CC).
McCormick led the Garnet with 18 points and 10 boards, garnering his second double-double of the year. Wolf (13) and Kurman (12) also scored in double figures.
Swarthmore forced 23 Bear turnovers and took 18 more shots from the field than the hosts, but shot just 33.3% (26-78) on the game.
The Garnet (2-6, 1-3 CC) will take a nearly three-week break for finals and the holidays before traveling to Southwestern University for their Classic on Friday, December 29th. Swarthmore will face the host Pirates on Dec. 29 at 8:00 p.m.