A dry stretch at the end of the first half was the difference as the Muhlenberg men's basketball team fell at Ursinus, 85-77.

The Mules (7-9, 0-4) led 20-19 after senior Giovanni Rubino hit a three-pointer with 6:55 left in the half, but the Bears (10-6, 3-1) followed with a 17-0 run over the next five minutes to open up a double-digit lead.

Muhlenberg was within 11 points at halftime and spent the entire second half trying to fight back. Ursinus ran it advantage to 20 points, 75-55, with 3:17 remaining before the Mules made one final push.

A 10-0 run, capped by another Rubino three, made it 77-68 with 1:29 to play, and a turnaround three by sophomore Peter Stanton-Shepherd cut the gap to six with 14.4 ticks left.

The Bears made their next two free throws, however, to put the game out of reach.

Rubino (pictured above) led Muhlenberg with a season-high 29 points, moving into the top 10 on the program's all-time list. He now has 1,439 career points, 20 points away from ninth place.

Stanton-Shepherd finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, while freshman Drew Buck scored 10 points.

Led by Rubino's 9-for-9, the Mules went 15-for-15 from the foul line. It was just the second time in program history they were perfect on free throws with at least 15 attempts, topped only by a 26-for-26 effort vs. Swarthmore 16 years ago.