Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Gettysburg outscored Swarthmore 46-27 in the second half and was a perfect 15-for-15 at the foul line as the Bullets won their eighth straight game, defeating the Garnet 69-55 in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon in Bream Gymnasium.
The Bullets (19-3, 14-2 CC), who also won their seventh straight home contest, are now on their longest winning streak since the 2001-02 team won eight straight. Gettysburg has also tied the 1960-61 squad (which finished 19-6) for the second-highest single-season victory total in school history. Only the 2001-02 team that went 20-7 has totaled more victories.
Swarthmore (6-17, 2-14 CC) trailed just 55-52 with 4:01 left but made just one of six field goal attempts and committed four turnovers the rest of the way.
Junior guard Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead the Bullets, who went a full game without missing a free throw and making at least 10 since Feb. 7, 2004, when Gettysburg went 12-for-12 at the stripe in a 70-50 victory at Muhlenberg. Capkin, who is now just 29 points shy of 1,000 for his career, went 7-for-7 at the line while freshman center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) was 4-for-4. Junior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) contributed a 3-for-3 effort while junior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) made his only free throw attempt of the game.
Powers finished with 16 points and nine rebounds while Dorsey totaled 15 points and six rebounds. Nevolo added nine points and tied a season-high with six assists while junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) recorded eight points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots. With his first rejection of the game, he reset his own single-season school record, which now stands at 89.
Senior center Ian McCormick posted 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead Swarthmore, and his 10th rebound was the 769th of his career, making him the Garnet's all-time leading rebounder. Matt Kurman added 11 points while Steve Wolf notched nine points and 11 boards. Raul Ordonez corralled 12 rebounds for Swarthmore, which owned a 48-35 advantage on the glass, including a 23-5 surplus on the offensive boards.
After scoring the game's first four points, Gettysburg fell into an offensive lull, going over six minutes without a point. In the meantime, Swarthmore reeled off a 10-0 run before Powers ended the Bullet drought with a lay-up at the 12:43 mark. Another Powers bucket at the 5:39 mark tied the game 19-19, but that's when the Garnet embarked on a 9-0 spurt, capped by a McCormick tip-in with 1:22 on the clock. McCormick scored nine of the final 11 points of the half for Swarthmore, but a pair of Dorsey jumpers sliced the lead to five (28-23) at the break.
The Bullets shot just 34.4% in the opening half but heated up in the second stanza, connecting at a 58.3% (14-for-24) clip over the final 20 minutes. Gettysburg held the Garnet scoreless over a four-and-a-half minute stretch and reclaimed the lead thanks to a 9-0 run. Spierenburg put the Bullets in front (35-34) for the first time since it was 4-2 when he tipped in a shot at the 13:20 mark, and Dorsey dropped in a pair of free throws just under a minute later to cap the surge.
Capkin sparked another Bullet run that opened up an eight-point edge for Gettysburg midway through the half. He converted a conventional three-point play with 11:06 left and followed up with a lay-up a half-minute later. A Dorsey lay-in put the Bullets up 44-36 with 9:51 on the clock.
Gettysburg enjoyed a nine-point advantage (50-41) when Nevolo drained a trey, but Swarthmore battled back to make it a one-possession game with 4:01 left. The Garnet had a chance to cut into the 55-52 deficit but Capkin rebounded a McCormick miss with 3:28 to go and Gettysburg went on to outscore the visitors 14-3 the rest of the way in which it scored eight points at the line.
The Bullets held Swarthmore to 29.7% shooting for the game, marking the seventh game in a row of holding in an opponent to sub-40.0%.
Gettysburg picks up its schedule on Wednesday, when it visits Franklin & Marshall at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference showdown.
