The Muhlenberg men's basketball team held off previously undefeated Ursinus in the second half to record a big 69-65 Centennial Conference home win. 

The Mules (4-1, 1-1), whose first three CC games are against the three teams who won CC playoff games last year, faced the prospect of heading into Saturday's game at seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins with an 0-2 league record had they lost to Ursinus.

That didn't happen thanks to an outstanding defensive effort. The Bears (5-1, 1-1) were held 23 points below their CC-leading scoring average of 88.6 points per game. Ursinus came in third in Division III with a .533 field-goal percentage but shot at just a 40.0-percent clip against the Mules. And Muhlenberg held the leading scorer in the CC to 14 points, seven below his average.

Junior Giovanni Rubino led four Muhlenberg players in double figures with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Graduate student Dan Gaines finished with 20 points, while sophomore Jayson Williams-Johnson and senior Matt Kempter added 11 apiece.

Muhlenberg trailed for only about two minutes of the second half, but the game was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than five points in the final 15 minutes.

The Bears took their final lead at 56-55 with 7:55 to play, but Kempter put the Mules ahead to stay with a three-pointer from the corner two possessions later.

Kempter (pictured above) came into the game not having scored a point all season but gave Muhlenberg a big lift, going 3-for-3 from three-point range. He entered the game in the first half after the Mules missed their first seven threes against the Ursinus zone and immediately assisted on a three by Gaines and made two of his own in his first five possessions on the court, helping build a nine-point lead.

After Kempter's second-half trey, the Bears cut the gap to one point on five separate occasions. They had chances to tie on free throws with 1:17 left and again with 20.6 ticks remaining but came up short both times. Ursinus also had a possession down two, 67-65, after Muhlenberg missed a free throw, but sophomore Luke Gordos got his hand on the shot and, in the scramble for the rebound, the ball went out of bounds off a Bear.

Kempter sealed the win by sinking a pair of foul shots with 7.9 seconds to play.

Senior Tommy McGuire tied his career high with 13 rebounds and also blocked a pair of shots.