Box Score

Muhlenberg men's basketball put youth on center stage for its season finale at Ursinus. The entire starting lineup and top five scorers for the Mules were freshmen or sophomores, and they made sure the season ended on a high note, defeating Ursinus 67-58.

The Mules (12-13, 7-11) used a balanced attack led by Brandon LaRose. The sophomore guard repeatedly attacked the rim and earned himself trips to the free-throw line, going 12-for-14 from the charity stripe en route to a game-high 16 points.

"Coach always tells me to have a high motor. I just try to do that and if I see a gap I'll exploit it. I noticed they were having a hard time staying in front, so I just tried to use that to my advantage and get contact," LaRose said.

"I really try to get into my defender and let the refs know I am getting fouled."

Freshman Owen McLeod followed LaRose with 15 of his own on 4-for-7 shooting and 6-of-9 from the foul line. McLeod also tallied five swipes. Fellow freshman Nick Rindock had 13 points, the biggest four of which came on two floaters with less than three and a half minutes to play. Sophomore Jon Schreer had the hot hand in the first half, shooting 4-of-5 from beyond for 12 of his 13 points.

This quartet, along with sophomore big man John Hunter (five points, four assists, five blocked shots), each have unique talents individually. Call them skilled, call them promising, but whatever you do, don't call them young.

"We definitely know we'll be playing together for the next couple of years. I just don't think that we want to be known as the 'young' team, we just want to have the same maturity as a senior or junior would have and come out and get wins like we did tonight," said LaRose (pictured above).

"We all have our jobs. Schreer is a great shooter, Owen and I are attackers, and Nick does a little of both. One focus for us from coach is telling us to do our job and be proud of our jobs. When we come together and all do our jobs collectively, we can be a pretty great team."

On a deep three in the first half, senior Malique Killing broke the Muhlenberg record for career field goals with 635. He would hit one more jumper to end his record-setting career with 636 field goals, 1900 points and 173 steals, all Muhlenberg records.

"Malique's actually the first person I met here, so he's always been a very important part of Muhlenberg for me.  He's just a great guy on the court and off the court. He's awesome to be around. He showed me the ropes and did a lot for me and team. He's definitely going to be missed a whole lot," LaRose said.

He's impressed many with his play on the court in his four years as a Mule, but has also touched some with his giving nature off of it.

"My first day at Muhlenberg, I walked in and didn't have any Muhlenberg apparel," said LaRose, a midyear transfer last season. "Malique tossed me a Muhlenberg hoodie and said 'here, have this.' I wear that hoodie all the time."

The Mules entered halftime with a 35-20 lead thanks to six three-pointers. They weathered an Ursinus run at the start of the second half that would tie the score at 42. The Bears (10-15, 7-11), who had not lost at home since December 2, would never overtake the lead, as Muhlenberg ripped off a 7-0 run to take back the lead for good.

"We knew that basketball is a game of runs. We just said that that was their run and now it was time to have ours. We never hit the panic button," LaRose said.