Weston Tallies Game-High 22 Points To Match Career-Best

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Malik Draper scored a game-best 27 points to help host Ursinus down visiting Washington College, 89-76, at Helfferich Hall on Saturday afternoon in a Centennial Conference men's basketball game.  The Bears improve to 5-18 overall and 3-13 in the Centennial, while the Shoremen drop to 5-18 and 4-12 respectively.

Five of the Shoremen's first six made field goals of the game were three-pointers with the last one coming from junior forward Sean Flanigan (Wilmington, Del/St. Mark's) with 12:18 left in the first half to make it 18-16.  Flanigan's triple ignited a 10-2 run to give the guests a 25-18 lead with 8:22 to go on a layup by junior guard John Weston (Tampa, Fla./Bolles School).  Ursinus would score 12 of the game's next 19 points to cut the lead to 32-30 with 3:20 left in the first half on a Ryan Adams three.  The Shoremen would take a 37-36 lead into halftime.

Weston scored the opening basket of the second half on a Weston layup 52 seconds into the half when the Bears scored the 13 eight points to take a 49-39 lead with 13:52 to go in the contest on a traditional three-point play by Adams.  The Shoremen would come back with a 19-7 run of their own to take a 58-56 lead with 10:12 to go on a triple by Weston.  Just 13 seconds later, Malik Draper would give Ursinus the lead back and this time for good on a three-pointer to give the Bears a 59-58 lead and that would kick start a 15-2 run to put the hosts ahead 73-61 with 7:14 to go on a Steve Leonard bunny.  WC scored the next six points to cut the lead in half to 73-67 with 4:23 left on two free throws by Weston, but Jesse Krasna responded with a three-pointer with 3:58 remaining to make it 76-67.  The Shoremen would trim the lead to five points at 79-74 with 1:32 to go on a three by junior guard Sean Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), but could draw no closer as the Bears scored 10 of the last 12 points of the game for the 13-point win.

Draper scored his 27 points on 10-for-13 shooting from the floor.  Adams added 22 points for the Bears, while Krasna had 13 points and Pat Vasturia netted 12 points for Ursinus, which shot 56% from the field (32-for-57).  Krasna tied for game-high in assists with four, while John Kanas had three steals to lead all players.  The Bears were 4-for-16 from three-point land (4-for-16) and 64% from the foul stripe (21-for-33).  Ursinus held a commanding 50-16 edge in points in the paint 23-9 in points off of turnovers.  Ursinus had just six turnovers, while the Shoremen lost the ball 15 times.  The Bears held a 33-24 edge off the bench, 27 of the 33 points coming from Draper.

Weston matched his career-high, which was also against Ursinus on January 14, with 22 points to lead the Shoremen.  Freshman guard James Drury (Jenkintown, Pa./Germantown Academy) had 19 points and Brooks posted 14 points.  Senior forward Tony Hawkins (Mt. Ephraim, N.J./Haddon Township) had 12 rebounds to lead all players.  Flanigan had four assists to tie Krasna for game-high.  The Shoremen held a slim 37-36 edge on the glass and outscored the Bears 14-10 in second chance opportunities.  WC shot 44% from the floor (28-for-64), 44% from three-point range (14-for-32) and 75% from the free throw line (6-for-8).  Washington shot the same amount of three-pointers as they did two-point field goals.

The Shoremen will play in their road finale on Wednesday night when they travel to Swarthmore for an 8:00 p.m. Centennial Conference contest.