GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Mike Spadafora (Richboro, PA/Archbishop Wood) led four players in double figures with 16 points to lift Gettysburg over Haverford 81-53 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
Spadafora, the team's leading scorer with 15.0 points per game, went 6-of-11 from the floor and also pulled down six rebounds as the Bullets (3-2, 1-1 CC) improved to 10-0 at home against the Fords (2-3, 1-1 CC). Mike Beck (Clearwater, FL/Clearwater) and Todd Brady (Hancock, NH/ConVal) added 11 points apiece.
Johnny Elefterakis paced Haverford with 15 points while Ben McDowell added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds off the bench.
In a contest fraught with personals fouls (49) and turnovers (49), Gettysburg used its depth to turn an early close game into a runaway.
With the teams deadlocked at 16, the hosts went ahead to stay on back-to-back layups from Brady and Spadafora. David Nowacki answered with a layup for the Fords, but the Bullets scored 12 of the game's next 14 points to take command.
Julius Redd (Gaithersburg, MD/Magruder) and Beck each hit two free throws and Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, PA/Lower Merion) added a layup before threes from Brady and Spadafora on consecutive trips made it 32-20 with 4:35 left in the half.
Elefterakis stopped the run with his lone 3-pointer of the game, but Spadafora's trey with 0.8 seconds left gave Gettysburg a 38-27 halftime advantage.
Keyed by four points apiece from Whelan and Brian Sateja (Morristown, NJ/Delbarton), the Bullets opened the second half with a 15-4 run to open up a 53-31 lead with 13:06 remaining and weren't threatened down the stretch. A Beck jumper with 7:31 left capped his career-high scoring performance and pushed the lead to 66-39.
The first collegiate field goals by Corey Dorsey (Frederick, MD/St. John's at Prospect Hall) and Zach Shedleski (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Catholic) gave Gettysburg its largest leads of the day at 28, the latter bucket setting the final score.
Whelan also hit double digits with 10 points while Sateja finished with eight points and a game-high seven rebounds. Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, PA/St. Maria Goretti [MD]) tallied a career-high nine points while Scott Dozier (Baltimore, MD/St. Paul's School) pulled down four rebounds in his varsity debut.
The Bullets return to action on Tuesday at defending CC champion Ursinus. Game time is 8 p.m.
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