In a showdown for first place in the Centennial Conference, the Muhlenberg wrestling team fell to Ursinus, 24-12.

Muhlenberg (6-3, 4-1) captured four bouts, but Ursinus (11-1, 5-0) captured its 20th consecutive victory in conference dual meets. The Bears’ last CC loss came to the Mules back in 2002.

Muhlenberg won decisions from freshman Rob Kein (141), sophomore Chris Swensen (heavyweight), junior Matt Loesch (197) and senior Chris Gibson (165).

Swensen, trailing 2-1 near the end of the third period, recorded a late takedown for the lead. Ursinus received a point for riding time to send the bout into the extra session. Swensen claimed sudden victory with his second takedown of the night.

In a matchup of the two 197-pound wrestlers with the best winning percentages in the CC, Loesch captured a 5-2 decision. Loesch, ranked sixth in Division III at 197, improved to 11-2, including 4-0 in conference bouts.

Kein improved to 13-8 on the season and Gibson’s victory put him at 15-10.

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Junior Jeff Stewart recorded his 11th double-double of the season

CC Standings school CC overall Johns Hopkins 11-2 15-4 Ursinus 11-2 15-5 Gettysburg 8-5 12-8 Washington 8-5 10-10 MUHLENBERG 6-7 10-9 Haverford 6-7 8-11 McDaniel 5-8 7-13 Franklin & Marshall 4-9 9-11 Dickinson 3-10 5-15 Swarthmore 3-10 4-16

with 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Mules to a 99-59 win against rival Haverford.

Muhlenberg (10-9, 6-7) is now tied with the Fords (8-11, 6-7) for the fifth and final playoff spot with five games remaining. The Mules have a favorable schedule, with games against each of the four teams below them in the standings.

In the teams’ first meeting of the season, back on Nov. 29, Haverford hit a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left for a 66-63 victory. This time, Muhlenberg was able to fully exploit its height advantage against the guard-oriented Fords.

Posting up forwards Jimmy O’Brien and Tom Scott on smaller defenders created mismatches that led to easy baskets. Stewart, O’Brien and Scott combined for 30 points in the first half, outscoring the entire Haverford team.

The success inside opened up the outside game, with junior Chris Huber hitting four of five three-point tries in a 20-point effort.

The Mules shot well from the get-go, but committed eight turnovers in the

Junior Christopher Strachan hit one of the Mules’ 10 three-pointers off a kickout pass from Scott in the post. He also had three assists and two blocked shots.

first 7:16 and led only 13-9. They went more than 10 minutes without another turnover, and by that time their lead had grown to 20.

Muhlenberg made 13 of its first 17 field-goal attempts, including six in a row in one stretch, and had runs of 11-0 and 10-0 in the first 13-plus minutes to open up a 37-15 lead. Haverford trailed by 19 at halftime and cut the spread to 16 early in the second half, but the Mules went more than six minutes without allowing a field goal and extended their lead to as much as 44.

The 99 points were the most scored by Muhlenberg since a 102-54 win against Dickinson last January and the most scored by a CC team this year. The Mules are averaging 81.8 points in their last six home games.

Stewart shot 10-for-15 from the field in his 10th 20-point game of the season. All 13 of his rebounds came on the defensive end. O’Brien finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Scott had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. Junior Brandon Mefford notched a career-high six assists.

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