BUCKHANNON, W. Va. – Urbana University men's basketball fell 73-65 to West Virginia Wesleyan College on the road Wednesday night.
Senior
Jordan Bradley led the way with a season-high 20 points and four assists, while freshmen
Tehree Horn knocked down a career-high five treys to finish with 15 points.
Mario Lacy Jr. (13) also reached double digits in the scoring column. Fellow freshman
Shaunn Monroe filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven steals, seven rebounds and five assists. He recorded the most steals by a Blue Knight since the 2013-14 season.
Horn opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers to put UU ahead 6-5 early. It would prove to be Urbana's only lead of the game.
Wesleyan made its first four shot attempts including a pair of threes by Dusan Vicentic to take a 10-6 lead into the first media timeout.
UU started just 4 of 13 from the field with the four made shots coming from beyond the arc. A Lacy layup made it 20-16 with nine minutes remaining in the first half, and despite a four-minute drought, the Blue Knights stayed within five following a three-point play by
Caiden Smith to make it 24-19 with five minutes.
Then, Horn's fourth three of the half made it a three-point game 28-25 and Wesleyan tacked on a point for a 29-25 lead at the break. Vicentic had 16 points as the hosts shot 55 percent over the opening 20 minutes. However, Urbana kept it close by forcing 12 Bobcat turnovers, helping to offset a 31-percent shooting mark.
Urbana had an early spark in the second half as Matt Ashley's fastbreak jumper cut the Bobcat lead to two, 34-32, and then Horn's fifth trey made it 36-35 at first media timeout.
Unfortunately, the momentum ended quickly as Wesleyan produced a 9-2 run to move ahead 45-37 with 12 minutes remaining. Then, back-to-back UU turnovers led to Wesleyan's first double-digit lead, which swelled to as much 14 when the Bobcats went up 55-41 with 8:30 on the clock. Nine turnovers in the second half proved costly for the Blue Knights.
Monroe found his stroke late in the contest, draining two straight treys to slice the deficit to six, 55-49, and forced a Wesleyan timeout with just over seven minutes. Another bucket from the Fairborn native made it a four-point game, but that was as close as Urbana would get.
Wesleyan moved back in front by double digits with four minutes left and held on the rest of the way.
Vicentic led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting and grabbed eight boards. Daylin Lee (15) and Clay Todd also scored in double figures for the Bobcats. Luka Petrovic had nine points, nine assists, five boards and three steals.
Urbana was outrebounded 34-22 while shooting just 39 percent overall from the floor. Wesleyan finished shooting 55 percent overall.
UP NEXT: Urbana hosts Davis & Elkins at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The Senators (4-5, 2-2 MEC) will play Notre Dame College tomorrow night.
