COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The TCNJ men's basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting Ursinus squad in a 99-72 season-opening setback on Tuesday night.

Pat Higgins scored a team-high 17 points in his debut and was joined in double figures by Danny Bodine and Anthony DiCaro (13 each), but the Lions were unable to slow a prolific Bears side that already had two games under its belt.

Ursinus (3-0) certainly looked like it had started its season a week prior, shooting a sizzling 60.0 percent from the field (36-of-60) and nearly as well from 3-point range (13-of-22, 59.1 percent). Two-time all-region star Ryan Hughes looked the part with a 25-point, 9-rebound, 5-assist stat line on 9-for-11 shooting and Trevor Wall added 21 points on 8-of-13 for the Bears.

Aside from an early jumper by Bodine, the Lions trailed from the jump. Ursinus began to seize control around the midway point of the period as Wall sandwiched consecutive 3-pointers around a layup from Jim Clemente on a Naysean Burch assist, and five free throws after that extended the lead to 29-16 before Matthew Okorie staunched the run with a free throw at the 7:26 mark.

The Bears twice ran out to a 14-point advantage, first on another Wall triple to make it 35-21 and again on a Mohamed Toure layup with just under four minutes remaining. The rest of the stanza was all TCNJ, however, as DiCaro maneuvered around a screen and swished a right-wing trey before Pat Higgins hung in the air and banked in a tough lay-in to get the visitors back within single digits at 37-28.

After a pair of Ursinus freebies, DiCaro sent a pass over his head back to Jason Larranaga, who connected on an NBA-range 3-pointer from straight on to make it 39-31 with just under a minute to play in the half. Twenty seconds later, DiCaro knocked down two from the charity stripe to get within six, but Ryan Hughes scored on a flying left-handed lay-up to put the Bears on top, 41-33, at the break.

Bodine got the Lions a little closer with a left-wing 3-pointer, but the Bears took their largest lead of the night on the back of a 10-2 spurt that made it 53-38 with 16:03 to go after Wall buried another triple.

Still leading by 15 at 61-46, the Bears hit 3-pointers on three straight trips – around one by Trevor Covey – to open up a 70-49 lead with 11:26 remaining, and TCNJ never got closer than 18 the rest of the way.

Ursinus shot 72.4 percent overall (21-for-29) and made nine of 12 from 3-point range after halftime.

Higgins made six of his 13 attempts from the field and added five rebounds in 32 minutes. Bodine was 6-for-7 from the floor with a team-high six rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Clemente produced six points, four rebounds, and a team-high four assists, while Covey and Olare Oladipo each knocked down a pair of treys.

The Lions return home to host the TCNJ Tip-off Tournament, which gets underway on Friday with a matchup against Pratt Institute.