Box Score
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Gettysburg men's basketball picked a great time to snap a pair of significant losing streaks Saturday night.
With their first victory at Muhlenberg in 14 years, the Bullets won their first-ever Centennial Conference (CC) championship and their first conference title of any kind since 1939.
Behind a team-high 16 points apiece from Greg Schreiber (Mechanicsburg, PA/East Pennsboro) and Terence Callahan (Bay Shore, NY/St. Anthony's), Gettysburg downed the Mules 68-59 for the program's first win in Allentown since Feb. 14, 1987 and its first championship since winning the last of six Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate League titles in 1939.
In addition, the Bullets (17-9) earned an automatic bid to their first NCAA tournament since 1996 with the win. Gettysburg will travel to Hampden-Sydney (Va.) on Thursday, Mar. 1 to battle the ODAC-champion Tigers (23-4) in the first round of Division III's version of the Big Dance. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Cody Bowers (Indiana, PA/Indiana) added a cruicial 11 points off the bench while All-CC first-team selection Curtis McNeil (Alexandria, VA/St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) also reached double figures with 10.
Muhlenberg's Mark Lesko - himself an All-CC first-teamer - led all players with 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Mules (14-12) lost for the first time in three CC championship game appearances.
After a first 10 minutes that featured nine lead changes, the Bullets used a 12-0 burst to take control.
Jim Natale (Washington Crossing, PA/Council Rock) tied the game 19-19 with a driving layup at the 10:57 mark and Schreiber scored off a behind-the-back pass from McNeil for a 21-19 Bullets' lead with 10:20 left before halftime.
Mike Monroe (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton) dropped in a cutting layup before Callahan and Bowers knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Gettysburg advantage to 29-19 with 8:22 left in the half.
Toomey Anderson stopped the run with a trey on Muhlenberg's next possession, but Bowers scored five straight points on two free throws and another triple to give the Bullets their largest lead of the half at 34-22 with 6:20 left before halftime.
The Mules closed out the half on a 10-5 run - capped by a 3-pointer from Bill Cwieka with four seconds left - to pull within 39-32 entering the locker room.
McNeil knocked down a 3-pointer to open the second half and Kevin Boyle (Dublin, PA/Lansdale Catholic) dropped in his only basket of the evening to extend the Bullet lead to 44-32 with 19:13 remaining.
Muhlenberg used a 10-2 run to close within 46-42 at the 13:08 mark following a Lesko put-back, but Callahan scored five straight points on a driving layup and 3-pointer with the shot clock at :07 to push the Gettysburg advantage to 51-42 with 11:40 left.
The Mules cut the lead to four a final time on a 3-pointer from John Strom that made it 56-52 Gettysburg with 5:12 remaining.
The Bullets, however, responded with a 6-0 burst and a trio of defensive stops to restore their 10-point cushion at 62-52 with 3:06 left.
Muhlenberg could get no closer than 64-59 in the final minutes, but Monroe scored an uncontested layup at :44 and McNeil hit both ends of a one-and-one with 30 seconds left to set the final margin at 68-59.
Schreiber also led the Bullets with eight rebounds while Callahan added five boards and a team-best five assists.
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