(Carlisle, Pa.) – Things are heating up in the Centennial Conference men's basketball race as first-place Swarthmore fell at Johns Hopkins while Dickinson suffered an 82-77 setback to visiting Ursinus College on Thursday night. Swarthmore falls to 6-1 while the Red Devils and Bears are even in second place at 5-2 in conference play.

The Bears jumped out to an early lead and stretched the margin to 18-8 at the 13:30 mark of the first half. Sophomore Elijah Wright (Orange, N.J./The Pennington School) hit a field-goal and a free throw, and fed Sam Lorenzo (Sterling, Va./St. Anne's Belfield) to trigger a run for the Red Devils.

First-year Bryce Allen (Albany, N.Y./The Hill School) knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five, with 10:38 to play in the period. The teams went back-and-forth before sophomore Corey Sherman (Penn Valley, Pa./Lower Merion) hit a three-pointer to make it a three-point game.

Junior Moses Romocki (Creedmoor, N.C./Cardinal Gibbons) finished the half strong with a driving lay-up and a pair of free throws, and sophomore Jule Brown (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) pulled Red Devils within one at the 1:45 mark. Allen hit a late jumper to cut the Ursinus lead to 38-34 at the break.

Wright came out strong on the offense end to challenge the Bears early in the second half. The score flipped between five and seven before Ursinus took a 54-45 advantage, with just under 13 minutes to play.

Junior Jon Stenger (Midlothian, Va./James River) got hot, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers to quickly cut the lead to three, at the 9:49 mark.

The Devils erased a seven-point lead behind a trio of free throws from Romocki and a strong and-one from Wright to pull Dickinson within a point, 67-66. Matt Knowles scored six straight for Ursinus before Michael Jurzynski (Pearl River, N.Y./The Master's School) answered with a three-pointer to break up the Ursinus run.

The Devils came within three in the final minute behind a lay-up from Justus Melton (Charlotte, N.C./Covenant Day) and steal-and-score by Wright, with just 33 seconds on the clock.

Jurzynski added another late three-pointer but Ursinus held on, hitting 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch.

Knowles tallied a game-high 27 points, going 8-for-10 from the free throw line while Zach Quattro recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Wright led the Red Devils with 17 points while Jurzynski finished with 12 on the night. Melton controlled a game-high 12 rebounds, adding seven points. Allen finished with nine points and two steals while Stenger chipped in with eight.

Romocki hit 5-of-6 free throws for seven points and six rebounds, and Mike Hinckley (Bryn Mawr, Pa./Episcopal Academy) had six points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Red Devils (8-6, 5-2) are on the road this weekend, traveling to Washington College for a 1:00 pm tip-off on Saturday afternoon.