HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball team (7-15, 1-9 CC) fell to Ursinus College (14-8, 7-3 CC) by an 86-82 final on Wednesday night inside Gooding '84 Arena. The Bears led wire-to-wire, but the Fords mounted multiple second-half runs to keep the contest within reach down the stretch in a thrilling finish.
Gaven Marr led Haverford with 20 points and seven rebounds, hitting four three-pointers. Emmanuel Cheung Hernandez added 14 points, four steals, and four assists off the bench. Carter Warren finished with eight points and five assists, while Raja Coleman contributed nine points.
Jamie Murphy paced Ursinus with 20 points. Mohamed Toure added 19 points, going 8-for-8 at the free-throw line, while Luke Nieman chipped in 13 points. Ursinus shot 50 percent from the field and converted 24 of 31 free throws in the victory.
Ursinus opened the scoring with the first six points of the game and built an early 9-3 advantage after a Nick Nocito three-pointer at the 17:17 mark. Gaven Marr answered with a three off a Carter Warren assist to steady the Fords, but the Bears pushed the margin to 17-8 midway through the half behind efficient interior scoring and transition opportunities.
Haverford found momentum from its second unit to hit the court. Tyler Nolan knocked down a three-pointer and Emmanuel Cheung Hernandez converted a steal into a fastbreak layup to trim the deficit to 20-16. Later, a Raja Coleman three-pointer cut the margin to 24-21 with 7:49 remaining in the half. Ursinus responded with a 9-2 stretch, capped by a Mohamed Toure layup in the paint, to extend the lead to 33-23 with 4:35 to play.
Trailing by 11 in the final minute of the opening half, Marr connected from deep and then turned a steal into a buzzer-beating fastbreak layup to send the Fords into the locker room down just eight at 38-30.
Haverford came out aggressive in the second half. Christian Uremovich scored just seven seconds in, and a Warren three-pointer followed by an Alex George triple sliced the deficit to 44-40. After a Coleman three at the 16:26 mark made it 47-43, the Fords continued to chip away at the Bears' advantage. A Niko Rizos layup cut the margin to 49-47 with 14:56 remaining, the closest Haverford would come.
Ursinus answered with timely execution inside, stretching the lead back to 61-53 with 10:37 to play. The Bears consistently capitalized in the paint and at the free-throw line to maintain control of the contest. Undaunted, the Fords kept fighting. Marr drilled a three-pointer at 7:02 to bring Haverford within 67-63, and Cheung Hernandez later finished inside to make it 69-65 with 5:54 remaining.
Ursinus responded with a 10-2 surge, highlighted by consecutive interior buckets from Tomas Belaiter, to push the advantage to 77-67 with just over four minutes left.
In the final three minutes, Warren knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 77-71, and Cheung Hernandez added a tip-in layup to make it 79-73. Marr connected again from beyond the arc with 48 seconds remaining to pull the Fords within 82-78. Ursinus did just enough to seal the win at the free-throw line in the closing seconds.
The contest served as Haverford's annual Play with Pride Night, celebrating LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Haverford Athletics and the broader college community. Haverford returns to action on Saturday, February 14, traveling to conference leaders Gettysburg for a 3 p.m. Centennial Conference matchup inside Bream Gymnasium.
