GETTYSBURG, Pa. --- Ryan Napp (Monroeton, PA/Towanda Area) scored a career-high 27 points and fellow co-captain Bill Davidson (Lebanon, PA/Annville-Cleona) added 17 as Gettysburg used a 49-point second half to subdue Franklin & Marshall 85-59 in Centennial Conference action on Saturday.

     The victory margin was the largest for a Bullet men's squad against the Diplomats since a 99-69 win on February 23, 1972.  Saturday's win also snapped Gettysburg's four-game losing streak against Franklin & Marshall (9-4, 2-2 CC) and sent the Dips to their third straight loss after a 9-1 start.  The Bullets jumped over the .500-mark at 7-6 (2-2 CC).

     Curtis McNeil scored 11 points and added seven rebounds for Gettysburg.  Reserve center Kevin Boyle posted career highs with eight points and four blocked shots in place of Greg Schreiber (Mechanicsburg, PA/East Pennsboro), who spent a significant portion of the second half on the bench with foul trouble.  Schreiber did, however, manage to finish with eight points and a team-high five assists in 19 minutes.

     Dave Manzo led all Franklin & Marshall scorers with 14 points while Mark Sadowski collected 10 points and a team-high five rebounds.  Alex Kraft scored nine points and Casimer Thomas added eight for the Diplomats, who shot just 18-for-51 (35.3 percent) from the floor on the afternoon.

     After a back-and-forth first half that finished with Gettysburg ahead 36-35, the second 20 minutes turned on F&M fouls and the Bullets' ability to convert their free throws.

     Franklin & Marshall took its last lead of the game with 12:52 remaining when Kraft converted a three-point play to make it 46-44.

     On the next Gettysburg possession, F&M's Grant Sporny committed a personal foul and was hit with a techical foul – the Diplomats' second of the game at that point – after protesting the call.  Napp converted both free throws to tie the game at 46 and start a 13-2 run that put the Bullets ahead 57-48 at the 8:25.  Mike Monroe and Davidson drilled three-pointers during the stretch and Richie Pfeil capped it with a 25-foot trey as the shot clock expired.

     Gettysburg maintained its nine-point cushion at 63-54 with 4:32 left when the foul situation again took center stage.

     F&M's Jerome Maiatico was called for an intentional foul – his fourth personal foul of the game – on Napp's driving layup. Napp converted both free throws to make it 67-54 and, eight seconds later, Maiatico picked up his fifth personal with a foul on McNeil.

     That call led to two technicals assessed to the Franklin & Marshall bench.  McNeil and Napp each made two free throws apiece to give Gettysburg a 71-54 lead.  The Bullets converted 12 of their 25 second-half free throws in the game's final four minutes en route to the key conference win.

     The second-half free throw shooting contest overshadowed an energetic first half in which the lead changed hands 11 times.

     Franklin & Marshall took its largest lead of the game at 27-21 on a Quinn Philbin free throw with 5:13 left in the first half.

     Napp drilled one if his three three-pointers and Boyle put back his own rebound to pull the Bullets with 27-26 and Gettysburg took a 36-35 lead into the half when Pfeil scored on a controversial driving layup as time expired.

     The Diplomats shot only 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) in the first half, but stayed in the game by going 14-for-16 from the free throw line.

     Davidson pushed the Bullet lead to 38-35 with the first basket of the second half, but then committed his second and third fouls in the next minute to land on the bench.  Gettysburg led 41-40 when Schreiber went to the bench with his third personal foul, bringing Boyle back into the game for the next 10 minutes.

     Boyle, who made four starts for the Bullets earlier in the season, responded with his best game of the 1999-2000 season, scoring a career-high eight points on 4-for-4 shooting, pulling down three rebounds and doubling his career-high for blocked shots with four rejections.  He even picked up a pair of assists on the afternoon.

     Davidson led the Bullets with a season-high eight rebounds to go with his team-best ninth double-digit scoring effort of the season.  He is averaging 19.0 points over the last three games.

     Gettysburg returns to action on Monday, January 17 at home against Alvernia College.  Game time is 7 p.m.  The Bullets return to Centennial Conference play on Wednesday, January 19 at Western Maryland College.

     With seven wins this year, Gettysburg needs only one more to reach the 1,000-victory mark in program history, a feat that had been accomplished by only 38 other NCAA Division III men's programs entering the 1999-2000 season.
 
 

Franklin & Marshall (59)
Ritacco 3-8 1-2 7, Philbin 1-6 1-2 3, Kraft 3-10 3-3 9, Sadowski 3-6 2-4 10, Maiatico 1-6 0-0 3, McCuen 0-1 1-2 1, Whitman 0-1 0-0 0, Sporny 1-2 2-2 4, Thomas 4-8 0-0 8, Van Orden 0-0 0-0 0, Manzo 2-3 10-10 14. Totals: 18-51 20-25 59.

Gettysburg (85)
Pfeil 2-5 2-2 7, Davidson 7-16 1-2 17, Schreiber 2-4 4-4 8, Gaither 0-1 0-0 0, Napp 5-8 14-17 27, Bowers 0-0 0-0 0, Callahan 1-2 0-0 3, McNeil 2-5 6-9 11, Natale 0-0 0-0 0, Monroe 1-2 1-2 4, Billmeier 0-2 0-0 0, Boyle 4-4 0-0 8. Totals: 24-49 28-36 85.

Three-pointers: F&M 3-15 (Ritacco 0-1, Kraft 0-4, Sadowski 2-4, Maiatico 1-5, Whitman 0-1), Gettysburg 9-21 (Pfeil 1-3, Davidson 2-6, Schreiber 0-2, Napp 3-6, Callahan 1-1, McNeil 1-2, Monroe 1-1). Rebounds: F&M 31 (Sadowski 5), Gettysburg 34 (Davidson 8). Assists: F&M 11 (Philbin, Kraft, Sadowski, Thomas 2), Gettysburg 14 (Schreiber 5). Turnovers: F&M 17, Gettysburg 20. Blocked Shots: F&M 3 (Thomas 3), Gettysburg 6 (Boyle 4). Steals: F&M 9 (Ritacco, Philbin, Sadowski, Thomas 2), Gettysburg 8 (Gaither 3). Personal Fouls: F&M 26, Gettysburg 20.  Technical Fouls: Sporny, Manzo, F&M Bench 2. Attendance: 300.

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