COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team saw its two-game winning streak snapped by Ursinus in the Centennial Conference opener on Tuesday evening, 95-77. The host Bears (2-1, 1-0 CC), a Centennial Conference semifinalist last season, started out scorching from the field with a 60 percent shooting mark in the opening half. They finished the contest shooting 53.6 percent against the Fords (2-2, 0-1 CC).
Joe Hartman led the Haverford offense that was tasked with keeping up with the Bears as he scored a career-high 18 points. Jonathan Lang (13 points) and Kahlil Garnes (11 points) joined him as the three Fords to reach double figures. Jesse Turkson just missed a double-double coming off the bench with 12 rebounds and nine points on the evening. Five different Bears finished in double figures during Ursinus' victory. Zach Quatro led those efforts as he matched Hartman with a game-high 18 points.
Right from the start, Haverford appeared poised to continue its hot shooting from the tip-off tournament championship this weekend as Hartman and Lang hit back-to-back three-pointers on the first two offensive trips down the court. However, Ursinus turned up the defensive intensity, forcing four different turnovers during an 18-4 run after that start. That spurt opened up a 10 point lead for the hosts, who pushed the lead to as many as 16 points midway through the opening half.
The Fords came right back with an 8-0 run of their own which was jumpstarted by another three off the shooting touch of Hartman. However, as seemed to be the case all night, the Bears had an answer every time Haverford started to feel the momentum swing back in its favor. Ultimately, it was Ursinus who took a 47-32 lead into its locker room at the end of 20 minutes.
Coming out of the break, the Fords once again threatened. This time, they scored the first nine points of the second half to trim the lead to just six with over 17 minutes remaining in regulation. However, Ursinus answered with back-to-back three-pointers of its own and Haverford could not get the lead back under 10 until Joe Wujciak got into the paint at the 13:10 mark of the half, making the score 60-52 with his layup.
Nevertheless, that would be the final occasion in which Haverford had its deficit trimmed down to single digits. Ursinus' largest lead of the game also turned out to be the final score as the Bears came away with a 95-77 victory on their home court.
Haverford controlled the paint on Tuesday with a 28-18 edge in the lane, while also holding advantages in points off of turnovers (11-5) and fast break points (8-2). The Fords forced Ursinus into 18 turnovers as five different players combined for 10 steals on Tuesday. Sam Stogdon came away with a career-best four takeaways to guide that effort. However, those statistics in favor of the Fords could not overcome a strong all-around offensive performance from the Bears.
Men's basketball will have exactly one week off with the Thanksgiving holiday upcoming. The Fords will be back inside the Gooding '84 Arena when they return to action on Tuesday, November 28 for a non-conference matchup against Elizabethtown at 8 p.m. That contest will start a final stretch to the fall semester which will see team at home during four of its next six contests before breaking for the New Year.