HAVERFORD, Pa. – Four players reached double-digits in scoring for Haverford College in Wednesday night's Centennial Conference men's basketball match-up with visiting Urinsus College, but the Bears came away with a 77-58 victory over the host Fords on the Gooding Arena court.
A Geoff Hartmann jumper pushed Haverford (2-6, 1-3 CC) ahead by three at the 15:44 mark of the first half, after which the lead changed hands five times. The final exchange, on a Jon Ward dunk, pushed Ursinus (2-7, 1-3) to a lead at 18-17 it wouldn't relinquish over the remainder of the game.
Trailing by ten at 40-30 to start the second half, the Fords reigned in the Ursinus attack in the early going of the period and closed to within eight at the 15-minute mark. The Bears, however, got on a roll and extended their advantage to 19 over the next eight minutes. The margin was trimmed to a dozen twice in the final 2:30 but Haverford was unable to pull any closer.
Ian Goldberg and Brett Cohen led the Fords' offense with 14 points apiece while Bo Friddell hit for 11 and Hartmann finished with 10. Friddell and Cohen teamed up for a combined nine rebounds in the loss.
Ursinus' Ward, who surpassed the 1,000 career points mark with his second basket of the game, led all scorers on the night with 22 points. Ward, only a junior, shared the rebounding lead Wednesday night with teammate Jermaine Kamara, both pulling down seven off the boards in helping the Bears to a 38-22 edge on the glass.
Haverford will entertain 11th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College in its next game, a home event on Saturday at 3 p.m.