COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Ursinus built a lead as large as 12 before staving off a late McDaniel rally to hold on for a 69-65 Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball victory on Saturday.

Austin Cannon (Hampstead, Md./Manchester Valley) led the Green Terror (3-13, 1-9 CC) with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Eric Williams and Zach Quattro paced the Bears (12-5, 8-2 CC) with 14 points each while Ryan McTamney rounded out a trio of starters in double figures with 13 points.

The teams traded points over the first nearly eight minutes of the game. A Griffin Kirchner (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) 3-pointer gave McDaniel an 11-9 lead with 13:34 to play before Matt Williams converted a layup 1 minute, 17 seconds later to tie the game at 11-all.

Five straight points from McTamney gave Ursinus the lead for good.

Two Remi Janicot free throws with 7:44 remaining in the first half stretched the lead to 25-13.

After Bamasa Bailor (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle Area) and George Gordon traded layups, Jared Houck (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) hit a jumper and Isaac Ray (Fredericksburg, Pa./Northern Lebanon) drained a 3-pointer to close the deficit to single digits with 5:22 showing.

Another Kirchner triple and Cannon layup closed the margin to 36-32 with 1:58 to play in the opening half but layups from Quattro and Brian Rafferty stretched the lead back to eight at the break.

The Bears stretched the lead back out to 60-49 with 4:43 remaining in the contest before Cannon drained a jumper to make it a nine-point game.

One Janicot free throw pushed the lead back to 10 but layups from Andy Kwiatkowski (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg), Ray and Houck in a 40-second stretch quickly cut the deficit to 61-57 with 2:21 to play.

A Ray driving layup down the left side made it a 66-63 margin with 23.1 seconds remaining.

McDaniel nearly stole the ensuing inbounds pass but could not secure it before going back out of bounds.

One Eric Williams free throw and a Kwiatkowski layup with 6.9 seconds on the clock made it a 67-65 game.

Williams, however, hit both free throws with 5.6 seconds showing to seal the win.

Ray and Kwiatkowski added nine points each while Kirchner netted a season-best eight points. DJ Harper (Glenn Dale, Md./Riverdale Baptist) led the way on the glass with 10 rebounds to go with seven points. As a team, McDaniel outrebounded Ursinus, 28-27.

The Green Terror returns to action at home against Mount Aloysius on Monday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

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