Box Score
WESTMINSTER, Md. – McDaniel's Brett Foelber scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, but his put-back with one second left in overtime was off the mark as Gettysburg overcame a late-game scoring drought while erasing a five-point deficit in the final minute to pull out a 66-65 overtime victory at the Gill Center in Centennial Conference action Wednesday evening.
With the win, Gettysburg (14-3, 9-2 CC) surpassed its win total from the 2007-08 season with seven regular season games remaining. The Bullets remain two games behind Ursinus for first place in the conference standings, but are now two games up on both McDaniel (12-6) and Johns Hopkins, who are both 7-4 in league play.
The Bullets, who won their third game in a row, improved to 3-0 in overtime games this season. It was the second one-point win in three games for Gettysburg, which also defeated Franklin & Marshall 67-66 a week ago. In addition, Gettysburg picked up its first win at McDaniel since their 76-55 victory in Westminster on Dec. 4, 2004.
Junior guard #Dan Capkin# (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) led Gettysburg with a team-high 22 points, none bigger than his three-pointer with 15 seconds left that sent the game to overtime.
Gettysburg led 54-48 with 9:25 remaining but managed only one point over the next 9:10. A Kevin Henry free throw gave the Green Terror a 60-55 lead with 1:18 to go, but junior forward #Joe Spierenburg# (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) made a pair of free throws with 1:00 left to make it a one-possession game.
Foelber then missed a shot for McDaniel, and Gettysburg gained possession as the ball went out of bounds. Capkin then knocked down his game-tying trey that made it 60-60 before the Terror took a pair of timeouts.
McDaniel had a chance to win it just before the buzzer, but a Ryan Finch baseline jumper was off the mark.
There were five lead changes and one tie in the extra session, but junior guard #Chris Nevolo# (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) scored what held up as the game-winning bucket with 2:49 on the clock. Slicing down the lane, Nevolo accepted a beautiful bounce pass from Spierenburg from the left side of the arc and dropped in a lay-up, setting the final score.
The Green Terror had opportunities to go back in front, but missed their final six field goal attempts. After a defensive stop, McDaniel called timeout with 32 seconds left, and Henry missed on a three-pointer with six seconds to go. Foelber collected the rebound on the left blocks, but his put-back bounced off the rim and into the hands of Spierenburg as time expired.
Gettysburg never trailed in the opening half and led by as many as eight (27-19) after a straightaway three-pointer from junior guard #Corey Dorsey# (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) with 4:54 on the clock. But the Bullets would manage only a Capkin lay-up over the remainder of the half, as the Green Terror closed the period on a 10-2 run. Miguel Jones tied the game (29-29) for the first time since the opening tap when his three-pointer from the left elbow bounced off the rim and the backboard before falling through the net as the buzzer sounded.
McDaniel shot just 26.2% in the opening half while the Bullets connected on 54.5% of their shots. However, Gettysburg committed 11 turnovers in the half while McDaniel turned it over only three times.
It was nip-and-tuck early in the second half, as there were two ties and three lead changes over the first seven minutes of the stanza. A leaner from junior forward #Andrew Powers# (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) gave the Bullets a 45-43 lead with 13:05 left, and Capkin scored five straight points three and a half minutes later. His two free throws gave Gettysburg its largest lead of the half (54-48) with 9:25 on the clock.
But that's when the Bullets hit their dry spell, and Jones put the Green Terror in front, 57-55, on a three-pointer with 6:11 remaining.
Powers finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and three blocks for the Bullets while Spierenburg notched 11 points, 13 rebounds, and five blocks. Dorsey added 10 points and five rebounds.
McDaniel, which took 31 more field goal attempts (81) than Gettysburg, also received 16 points from Henry. The Green Terror shot just 29.6% from the field but out-rebounded the Bullets 49-41 and committed only eight turnovers, 11 more than Gettysburg. Chris Prior finished with 13 rebounds for McDaniel while Finch grabbed 10 boards.
The Bullets return to Centennial Conference action on Saturday, when they visit Washington (Md.) College in a 4 p.m. tip-off.
