Ursinus Men’s and Women’s basketball teams are in the Centennial Conference playoffs! How did they do it? Preseason odds from votes among conference head coaches doubted both teams, projecting them to finish just 5th and 4th respectively. But as we all know, the Bears do best when people doubt them the most. That culture has seemingly extended to the Bears’ Basketball teams this season.
The Men’s team, which placed 4th in the conference with a 16-9 record, were led by Senior Trevor Wall. Wall, who was already coming off a successful junior year last year as the conference-scoring leader with 19.4 points per game, repeated as the conference-scoring leader with an even better average of 22.2 points per game. Some highlights from Wall in the 2024-25 season included a 38-point game from him early in the season against Wilkes University. Wall also put up 30 in a late-season victory against Haverford College, in which the team put up 102 total points. This was the second-best points scored in a single game in the Centennial Conference all season.
The biggest highlight of the season for the Bears as a team was also due to Trevor Wall. It was Senior Day, against Swarthmore College. Wall celebrated senior day with his five fellow classmates: Will Allain, Cole Grubbs, Jaiden Jakubowski, Luke Trotta, and Marlin Wise. Wall finished the day with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals. But the real highlight came with about 24 seconds left. The Bears got the ball back after a missed free throw from Swarthmore, but an inbound pass was intercepted, and the Garnet immediately hit a three-pointer that tied the game at 73 with 14 seconds remaining. However, this set the stage for Wall’s heroics. The senior drove the ball down the length of the court and scored the game-winning layup, rolling on the rim and in the basket with 0.7 seconds left. A 75-foot desperation heave from Swarthmore went high and sealed the Bear’s victory.
Other standouts from the Men’s squad included Nick Nocito leading the league in assists. Nocito was a scoring threat on his own, scoring a team-high 39 points against FDU Florham. 6’10 Cole Grubbs finished the year 3rd in average rebounds per game in the conference and ended second in total rebounds. Luke Nieman finished the year with 53 made 3-pointers, 3rd best in the Centennial Conference.
The 3rd place Women’s basketball team also had plenty of stand-out performances, none more impressive than from 6-foot forward Chinwe Irondi, who led the team and the conference
in average points per game with 20.5. Irondi had only had 2 games the entire season when she was held to under 10 points. Her best game came against Neumann University when she dropped 33 and was 14-26 from the field, showcasing a snippet of her season-long reputation as a force inside the point offensively and defensively.
Speaking of defense, Ava Possenti was also a pest to any potential scorers, leading the entire conference in steals with 113. Possenti broke the Ursinus record of 89 steals in a 72-44 Bear’s win against Bryn Mawr. That record was previously held by Betsy Laskowski (88, 1993) and Heather Colvin (88, 1993). Possenti totaled 12 points along with three assists, also setting a career-high with eight steals in the contest.
Colleen Blackman set the conference on fire from 3-point range, leading the conference in 3-point percentage at a clip of about 33 percent. Her best game came against Swarthmore when she scored 20 points. The work she put in that game ultimately helped the team defeat the Garnet, locking up a spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
Despite their role as the underdogs, the Bears now become the hunted, as they’ve secured home-court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. But through an attacking mindset, there’s no doubt these will be teams to fear moving forward.
