(Hampden-Sydney, VA) – The Medaille College men's basketball team took to the floor as part of the The Car Coop/Weenie Miller Memorial Holiday Hoops hosted by Hampden-Sydney College after a two and a half week layoff.  The Mavs squared off against Ursinus College in the evening's second game.  This was a back and forth affair that saw Medaille battle back from a ten point second half deficit to hold off the Bears for a (75-70) victory.

The Mavs jumped out to a (18-9) lead eight minutes into play but that lead would evaporate quickly as Ursinus tallied the next (15) points to surge to a (24-18) advantage.  Medaille went on a mini run to take a (25-24) lead but the Bears would close out the half leading (38-30).

The Bears would add to that lead early in the half before the Mavs began to take control.  Within five minutes Medaille was able to erase the Ursinus lead and they did so on the backs of seniors Ron Malicki (Machias, NY/Pioneer) who posted game highs with (20) points and (10) rebounds while Joe Mogavero (Kenmore, NY/Kenmore West) poured in (16) points while also pulling down ten boards.

The Mavs withstood a (66.7%) first half shooting performance from Ursinus and were able to limit themselves to just (11) turnovers in the game and held a (36-32) edge on the glass en route to the victory.  A critical moment in the game happened with twenty seconds remaining when Ricky Reed (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) drove the lane and kicked the ball out to Anthony Battaglia (Lancaster, NY/Depew) who banked home a difficult leaner for what proved to be the game winning bucket.

The win is the fifth straight for the Mavs and the seventh in their last eight games and it came against a Ursinus team that has been to four straight NCAA Tournaments (six since 2000) and was in the 2008 Final Four.  The Mavs are now (7-3) on the season and will face host Hampden-Sydney College tomorrow (12/30) at 4:00pm. The host team beat Marymount University in the early game.