Six days after shooting its way to a big win against Ursinus, the Muhlenberg men's basketball team turned to its defense to beat the Bears again.

The Mules held Ursinus, the Centennial Conference leader in field-goal percentage, to 33.9-percent shooting in a 74-53 win in the first round of the CC playoffs. Muhlenberg (18-8) advances to face top-seeded Johns Hopkins in a semifinal game on Friday, February 24.

Complementing the superb defense was a superb effort from junior Giovanni Rubino, who scored a career-high 35 points to set a CC record for a first-round playoff game. Rubino was 12-of-18 from the field and 9-of-10 from the line, missing by one the Muhlenberg postseason scoring record of 36 set by Tom Barlow in a 1968 NCAA Tournament game.

Muhlenberg set a school record for a CC game by shooting 64.9 percent from the field in a 94-61 win at Ursinus in the final week of the regular season. The shots didn't fall so readily for either team in the early going of the playoff game. The Bears (15-11) led 5-4 five minutes into the game before the Mules went on a 10-0 run to open up a nine-point lead. Rubino had six points during the run, which also featured a steal and fullcourt layup by junior Brandon Goldberg.

Ursinus responded with back-to-back threes to close to within three points, but Rubino (pictured above) scored the next seven points to give Muhlenberg its first double-digit edge at 21-11.

The Bears got as close as three points with 3:12 left in the half, and a buzzer-beating layup by senior Tommy McGuire sent the Mules into the locker room with a 33-26 advantage.

Ursinus was within five points, at 35-30, a minute into the second half when Muhlenberg turned up the defense, allowing only one field goal over a span of almost seven minutes. The 14-3 run gave the Mules a 16-point lead midway through the half, and the Bears never threatened.

Muhlenberg shot 55.6 percent in the second half to pull away and win a playoff game by more than 20 points for the first time since a 78-54 win against Western Maryland in a 1995 semifinal. The Mules followed up that game with a win at Johns Hopkins to capture their first CC title.

Graduate student Dan Gaines and sophomore Luke Gordos scored 9 points apiece for the Mules, while McGuire finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals.