Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Washington College (Md.) missed a potential game-tying three-pointer with three seconds left after erasing a double-digit deficits in each half as the Gettysburg College men's basketball team held on for a 77-74 Centennial Conference victory Wednesday evening in Bream Gymnasium.
The Bullets pushed their record to 9-2 and 4-1 in the Centennial Conference while the Shoremen dropped to 3-9 and 0-5 in conference play.
With the victory, Gettysburg Head Coach George Petrie became just the second men's basketball coach in school history to reach 250 wins. Only Hen Bream, who won 309 games from 1927-55, had achieved the milestone.
Junior guard Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to finish with a team-high 22 points and four assists for Gettysburg, which is 9-2 for the first time since 2001-02. Backcourt mate Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) tallied 21 points. Junior guard Tim Kohlrus led all scorers with 26 points for Washington.
The Bullets enjoyed their largest lead of the night when junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) dropped in two of his 13 points on a lay-up with 8:40 left, making it 61-48. However, that's when the Shoremen rattled off a 10-0 run, capped by a conventional three-point play from Kohlrus, that sliced the deficit to three with 5:51 to go.
A 5-0 spurt from Gettysburg pushed the lead back to eight (68-60) with 4:50 on the clock, but Washington refused to go away, thanks in large part to the play of Kohlrus. He scored six points during an 8-0 run, and his driving lay-up with 3:07 left tied it the game at 68. But the Shoremen were whistled for an away-from-the-ball foul on the shot, and a pair of Dorsey free throws put Gettysburg ahead to stay.
Kohlrus would strike twice more with a pair of late three-pointers, the second of which pulled Washington to within two (76-74) with 32 seconds left. The Shoremen then fouled Spierenburg with 19 ticks showing, and he made 1-of-2 two free throws. After a timeout, James Restrepo hoisted a trey from the right wing, but it was off the mark. Andrew Chambers grabbed the offensive rebound but missed the put-back, and the game ended with freshman center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) gathering the rebound.
In the first half, Gettysburg enjoyed a 31-19 lead with 6:22 left before a the Shoremen rallied with 12 unanswered points to tie it at 31 following a conventional three-point play from Todd Green with 4:05 remaining. Washington took its first lead since it 9-7 when Chambers dropped in a lay-up with 1:39 to go, giving the Shoremen a 35-34 lead they would take into halftime.
The Bullets never trailed again after Capkin nailed a trey 14 seconds into the second half.
Spierenburg, the leading shot-blocker (4.4 per game) in Division III entering the night, finished with three swats to go with six rebounds. Powers also had three blocks (his season-high), and he led the Bullets with nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Brendan Hager (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) chipped in a season-high seven points.
Alan Kines added 15 points for Washington while Green totaled 13 points. Scott Hampton grabbed nine rebounds for the Shoremen.
Gettysburg returns home on Saturday, when it hosts Muhlenberg College at 3 p.m. in another Centennial Conference contest.
