Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Freshman forward Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) posted season-highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds while junior guard Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half as the Gettysburg College men's basketball team topped Muhlenberg College 88-73 in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon in Bream Gymnasium.
With the win, Gettysburg improved to 10-2 for the first time since the 1938-39 season, when the Bullets finished 17-2. Gettysburg also bumped its Centennial Conference record to 5-1, the team's best start in conference play since the 2001-02 team opened 7-1.
Mike Bernardini shot 6-for-10 from beyond the arc to pace Muhlenberg (6-7, 4-2 CC) with a career-high 31 points. The Mules shot 43.3% (13-of-30) from three-point range for the game.
The Bullets never trailed after scoring the first seven points of the game. It was 12-11 with 14:22 left in the opening half when Gettysburg broke open the game with an 18-2 run over the next five and a half minutes. Capkin scored 11 of his team's points during the decisive stretch, which included one shot from beyond the arc and two conventional three-point plays. Powers capped the surge with a pair of free throws that gave Gettysburg its largest lead of the half (30-13) with 8:51 on the clock.
The Mules reduced the deficit to single digits, however, before a pair of free throws from junior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) six seconds before the buzzer gave the Bullets a 40-30 advantage at the half.
A 13-5 run to open the second half put Gettysburg up 51-33 following a pair of Powers free throws with 16:29 on the clock. Powers scored six points during the sprint while Dorsey accounted for the other seven.
The Bullets equaled their 18-point lead twice more early in the half, and it was a 15-point game with 10:54 left before the Mules climbed back into it with an 8-0 run. Darrell Roth scored the last five points during the spurt, and his jumper with 7:46 remaining made it 66-59.
A Ryan Foster lay-up had the Mules within eight (76-68) with 2:11 to go. But that's when Muhlenberg began to foul, and Gettysburg converted 8-of-10 free throws to account for an 8-0 run that put the game out of reach. Dorsey made the first four foul shots during the stretch while Powers went 4-for-6.
Dorsey finished 7-for-7 at the line and totaled 17 points while freshman forward Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) tossed in eight points off the bench. Junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) tallied seven points, six assists, and a pair of blocks.
Roth shot 4-for-9 from downtown en route to an 18-point game while Foster added 17 points. Chris MacIntosh contributed seven assists for the Mules.
Gettysburg shot an even 50.0% (29-of-58) from the field and connected for a season-best 88.5% (23-of-26) at the foul line.
The Bullets continue their season on Wednesday, when they visit Swarthmore College at 7 p.m. in another Centennial Conference match-up.
