After a year in which both teams finished the year with over 16 wins in the regular season, the Men’s and Women’s Bears basketball seasons came to an end last week.
Last Wednesday, the Bears women’s basketball team lost to the 6th-seed Dickinson College Red Devils in a stunner at Helfrich Hall, 71-52.
Junior forward Madison Smith finished with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds, while senior forward Chinwe Irondi, who was held to nine points in 35 minutes in the only other matchup against Dickinson College this year, added 13 points and eight rebounds. For Dickinson, Jenna Weinstein led all scorers with 24 points, finishing four-of-six from three-point range. Dickinson’s Mia Chapman added 16 points on top of seven rebounds and forced four turnovers, while Caitlin Blackman tallied nine points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. It is also very important to note that Collen Blackman, who was one of the leading three-point shooters in the conference, was declared out against Dickinson, replaced by Senior Charlotte DiLello.
Ursinus shot 40.4% (23-of-57) from the field, 9.1% (1-of-11) from three-point range, and 55.6% (10-of-18) at the charity stripe. Dickinson had a shooting percentage of 43.1% (25-of-58), 31.8% (7-of-22) from deep and finished 87.5% (14-of-16) at the charity stripe.
With five seconds remaining in the contest, Irondi exited the floor to a standing ovation from the Helfferich Hall crowd. The Waldorf, Maryland native closed out a historic career for the Bears, finishing ranked second all-time in program history with 1,818 points and 1,015 rebounds.
The Bears closed out the 2024-25 season with a 16-10 overall record and a 10-5 mark in Centennial Conference action.
The Men’s team went a little further in Centennial Conference Basketball play, first beating the reigning conference champion Swarthmore College Garnet in the first round of the tournament 89-67 and advancing to the semi-final round against Franklin & Marshall College for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
Junior Mohamed Toure led all scorers with 20 points behind a sizzling first half that saw him score 18 of his 20 points on a 5-of-5 stretch with three of those baskets being three-pointers. Toure also added six rebounds and two steals. Junior Nick Nocito completed a double-double with 18 points and ten rebounds while dishing out five assists. Sophomore Luke Nieman added 13 points and five rebounds off the bench and conference scoring champion, senior Trevor Wall scored twelve points while posting five assists.
The Bears shot 48% from the field (24-of-50) and an even 50% (10-of-20) from three-point range. Ursinus went 72.1% (31-of-43) from the free throw line and held a 45-33 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Garnet shot just 30.8% (20-of-65) from the field after going just 22.2% in the second half and 28.9% (11-of-38) from three-point range. Swarthmore went a solid 16-of-20 (80%) from the free throw line and were led in scoring by Devin Burger, who scored 17 points off the bench behind making five three-pointers.
The Men’s season ended on Friday when they lost to the number one seed Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 75-64 after a slow start and while getting burned by 12 turnovers.
Senior Trevor Wall wrapped up a storied Ursinus career with a team-high 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds while dishing out three assists. Wall finishes his career with 1,751 points and ranks fourth all-time in program history for scoring. Junior Mohamed Toure scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds while senior Marlin Wise and sophomore Luke Nieman tallied ten points apiece.
The Bears shot 40.4% (21-of-52) from the field. Ursinus went just 27.3% (6-of-22) from three-point range and 57.1% (16-of-28) from the free throw line. The Diplomats shot an even 50% (24-of-48) from the field and went 47.1% (8-of-17) from three-point range. F&M went just 52.8% (19-of-36) from the free throw line and held a 43-27 rebounding advantage.