Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. –
Mike Spadafora (Richboro, PA/Archbishop Wood) tallied 12
of his career-high 26 points in the game’s final three
and half minutes to lift Gettysburg to a 75-69 victory at
Navy in non-conference men’s basketball action on Saturday.
Spadafora hit 15 of 16 free throws to lead four players in double
figures for the Bullets (3-4), who got their first victory
in 12 tries against the Midshipmen (3-6) dating back to
a 78-76 overtime win in 1992.
Ryan Page (Laurel, MD/St. John’s
College [DC]) added 14 points, including three of Gettysburg’s eight 3-pointers. Kyle Jakobe (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) and Erik
Fromm (Swedesboro,
NJ/Kingsway
Regional) added 11 apiece.
Laramie Mergerson paced Navy with 16 points. Corey Johnson added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Page
drilled a triple with 3:47 to play to turn a two-point deficit
into a one-point advantage. From there, Spadafora
took over, converting 8 of 9 free throws and adding a layup
and jumper for the final surge.
Mergerson tied the game for the final time at 63 with 2:35 to
play, but six straight points from Spadafora
and a Page dunk gave Gettysburg a 71-65 lead en route to
the Bullets’ first non-overtime victory over the Midshipmen
since 1969.
Gettysburg came out of the gate hot, tallying 12 of the games first
15 points.
David Hooper cut the lead to six on a trey entering the first media timeout.
With
13:12 remaining in the opening stanza, Johnson hit a triple
of his own to spark an 11-2 surge over the next three minutes
for a 17-14 lead.
Two
free throws and a layup from Mergerson stretched the
Midshipmen advantage to as many as eight at 27-19.
With
6:02 to play in the first half, Page drilled a 3-pointer
to start a 14-6 surge, capped by a Jakobe three-point play to knot the game at 33 with 2:05 remaining
before the intermission.
Clinging
to a 38-35 halftime advantage, Navy stretched the lead to 15 over the
first 8 mintues, 53 seconds of
the second half.
Spadafora hit two free throws to start 17-0 run over a 3-minute,
39-second span to give the Bullets their first lead at 54-52
with 7:28 remaining in the game.
Jakobe hit both of his triples during the run.
On
his 55th birthday, head coach George Petrie earned his 199th career victory,
putting him one win away from becoming the third coach in
program history to reach the 200-win plateau.
Gettysburg returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at the Cal Luteran
tournament.
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