Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – With a comeback worthy of a playoff team, the Gettysburg men's basketball squad became exactly that on Wednesday.
Behind a combined 27 second-half points from Curtis McNeil (Alexandria, VA/St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) and Greg Schreiber (Mechanicsburg, PA/East Pennsboro), the Bullets rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 14:22 to defeat Ursinus 59-54 and clinch a spot in the Centennial Conference (CC) playoffs.
Gettysburg's win – its ninth in the last 10 games – coupled with a 79-59 Dickinson loss at Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday assured the Bullets (15-8, 10-2 CC) of their first CC postseason berth since 1996. Gettysburg could win the CC West Division with a win over Dickinson on Friday and an F&M loss at Johns Hopkins on Saturday.
Steve Erfle scored a game-high 19 points for Ursinus (15-8, 6-6 CC) and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. Richie Barrett and Alan Karafin also scored in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
With Gettysburg trailing 33-23 and 14:22 left in the second half, McNeil scored 12 of his 18 points during a 26-8 second-half run that turned the Bears' dougle-digit lead into a 49-41 Gettysburg advantage with 5:57 left.
Jim Natale (Washington Crossing, PA/Council Rock) started the run, sandwiching a pair of buckets around a McNeil steal-and-layup to pull the Bullets within 33-29 at the 13:04 mark.
Matt Tuzman knocked down a pull-up jumper and Erfle converted two free throws to push the lead back to 37-31 with 11:16 to play before Gettysburg took over.
Mike Monroe (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton), who finished with nine points off the bench, put-back a Natale miss before Schreiber scored on a cutting layup and McNeil converted both ends of a one-and-one to tie the game at 37-37 with 9:59 left, the first deadlock since the game's opening minutes.
Callahan then found Schreiber for an easy layup that put the Bullets ahead to stay at 39-37 with 9:18 remaining. McNeil hit another two free throws and Schreiber knocked down a jumper with the shot clock running down to cap the 12-0 run and make it 43-37 Bullets with 7:46 left.
Two Erfle free throws broke the Ursinus scoring drought, but McNeil hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor for a 49-41 Gettysburg lead.
The Bears pulled within 53-50 on a Karafin jumper with 1:24 to play, but Schreiber put back a Callahan miss on Gettysburg's next trip down the floor and the Bullets converted four of six free throws in the final 41 seconds to seal the win.
Gettysburg overcame a 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) shooting performance in the first half while watching the Bears run out to a nine-point halftime lead.
Following an inside layup by Schreiber to open the game, Erfle scored six points on an 11-2 Ursinus run that gave the Bears an 11-4 lead with 13:50 left in the first half.
The Bullets closed to 13-10 on a 3-pointer from McNeil – his only field goal of the half on eight attempts – at the 12:07 mark, but Karafin knocked down a jumper and Rory Young converted a breakaway layup to make it 17-11 Ursinus.
A free throw by Callahan and layups from Schreiber and Natale pulled the Bullets within two at 17-15 with 6:39 remaining before halftime.
Erfle's turnaround jumper at 6:04 broke a 5-minute, 16-second Bear scoring drought and Ursinus closed out the half on a 7-2 run to take a 26-17 lead into the locker room.
Gettysburg shot only 29.2 percent from the floor in the first half, including a 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) showing from 3-point range.
The Bullets return to action on Friday, February 16 at home against Dickinson College. Game time is 8 p.m.
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