Marietta-Wesley Box Score
Gettysburg-Messiah Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Tournament MVP Dan Capkin (Wynewood, Pa./Lower Merion) scored a career-high 31 points on sizzling 13-of-17 shooting and Gettysburg rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat Messiah College 81-67 in the championship game of the 17th annual Gettysburg Days Inn Tip-Off Tournament Saturday afternoon at Bream Gymnasium.
After trailing for most of the first half, Gettysburg (2-0) used a pair of runs to first retake the lead, then pull away at the end. Messiah led 54-47 with 14:28 left before the Bullets went in front to stay after a 13-0 run, capped by a pair of free throws from freshman center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) with 10:10 remaining. The Bullets sealed their victory with a 10-0 surge that turned a four-point (62-58) lead into a 14-point cushion with 3:44 on the clock following two Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) foul shots. The Falcons were unable to trim the deficit under 12 the rest of the way.
Capkin, who shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, finished with 58 points for the tournament after a 27-point night in the Bullets' first-round win over Marietta.
Dorsey finished with 19 points for the Bullets while junior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) tied a career-high with 11 points on 7-of-7 free-throw shooting to go with four assists. Junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) tallied nine points, eight rebounds, and five blocks while Powers added eight points on 8-of-8 foul shooting after a 22-point performance against Marietta on Friday. Spierenburg and Powers were both named to the all-tournament team, which also included Messiah's Andy Hawk and Josh Curtin, Wesley's Rashawn Johnson, and Marietta's Isaiah Creasap.
Gettysburg shot 85.7% (24-for-28) at the charity stripe, including a 94.7% mark (18-of-19) in the second half.
Darryl Brown and Jamie Yoder paced Messiah (1-1) with 16 points apiece, with Yoder shooting 4-for-4 from three-point range. Hawk contributed 11 points for the Falcons.
There were five ties and four lead changes over the game's opening 7:51, and Gettysburg led 14-12 after a Capkin lay-up with 12:26 remaining in the opening half. But that's when Yoder knocked down his first trey of the game, kicking off an 11-0 Messiah run that put the Falcons up nine (23-14) with 9:38 showing.
The Bullets answered with an 8-0 spurt, capped by a Capkin three with 7:17 on the clock, to pull to within one, but Messiah closed the half on a 7-0 run to assume a 41-32 halftime advantage. Jason Miller closed the run with a conventional three-point play with one second left following a steal by Ryan Witmer in the backcourt.
For the second game in a row, Gettysburg shot over 50.0%, as the Bullets connected on 59.1% of their attempts. After shooting 50.0% in the opening period, the Falcons went 34.6% from the field in the second half to finish at 42.6%.
Gettysburg returns to action on Tuesday, when it visits York (Pa.) College in a non-conference game starting at 8 p.m.
