Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Junior guard Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) tied a game-high with 25 points and two-seeded Gettysburg held off a late rally from three-seeded Johns Hopkins en route to a an 80-69 victory in the Centennial Conference semifinals Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall, on the campus of tournament host Ursinus College.
With the victory, Gettysburg (22-3) wins its 11th game in a row and advances to the Centennial Conference championship game for the fourth time and the first time since the 2001-02 season.
The Bullets will face top-seeded and No. 17-ranked Ursinus College, a 93-79 winner over five-seeded Dickinson in the other semifinal, in the title game at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The winner will receive an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Bullets, who extended their winningest season in school history, led from start to finish. However, Johns Hopkins (16-10) sliced an 18-point lead down to five inside the final minute, thanks to the hot hand of senior guard Doug Polster, who drained four three-pointers in the last two-and-a-half minutes.
Junior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) added 22 points for the Bullets on 10-of-14 shooting while handing out four assists while freshman center Andrew Powers (Boyerrtown, Pa./Boyertown) registered an outstanding all-around game, missing a triple-double by two assists. He finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists while junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) contributed nine points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks.
Polster led the Blue Jays with 25 points on 6-of-11 three-point shooting. Scott Weisenfeld added nine points off the bench for Hopkins while Kevin Roach pulled down eight rebounds.
Polster made it a 10-point game (70-60) with 3:01 left, and he went on to drill three more treys sandwiched around a pair of Dorsey lay-ups. His final long ball of the game, a straightaway shot that took several spins around the rim before falling in, made it 74-69 with 36 ticks showing. However, Gettysburg put the game away at the foul line, making their final six free throws while the Blue Jays missed their final three field goal attempts. Nevolo hit a pair of foul shots with 34 seconds left before Powers knocked down two more 19 seconds later. Spierenburg set the final score with two free throws of his own two seconds before the buzzer.
Gettysburg used a 13-0 run in the early going to take control. With the Bullets up 4-2, Dorsey started the run with a deep three from the right wing. Capkin followed up with a trey of his own from the right elbow, and a left-handed hook in the lane from Powers gave Gettysburg its first double-digit lead (12-2) of the game with 14:59 left in the opening half.
Capkin continued the Bullets' flurry, taking a beautiful outlet bounce pass from junior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) and converting a fastbreak lay-up. Dorsey capped the spurt with another trey, this one from the top of the key, making it 17-2 with 13:45 on the clock..
Johns Hopkins regrouped after a timeout, showing a full-court press and using a 13-3 run to draw to within five (20-15) following a pair of quick buckets. John Alberici dropped in a lay-up before Adam Baumgartner converted a basket off a turnover in the backcourt with 9:27 to go, prompting a Bullet timeout.
Gettysburg had the answer, however, running off seven unanswered points to push its lead back to 12 (27-15) with 7:49 showing. Spierenburg started the surge with a driving lay-up before freshman forward Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) drilled a straightaway three on a kick-out from Powers, who capped the run with a pair of foul shots.
The Bullets led by 12 on two more occasions in the half, the last coming on a lay-up from sophomore guard Brendan Hager (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga), before Weisenfeld hit 1-of-2 free throws with 46 seconds left to make it a 38-27 game at the break.
Capkin led all scorers with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting at the break, as Gettysburg shot 51.9% in the opening half. Dorsey added eight points and four assists in the period.
The Bullets opened the second half with a 9-3 run to build a 47-30 lead with 15:25 left. Dorsey nailed a turnaround “J” before Capkin knocked down his third trey of the game to cap the run.
Hopkins whittled the deficit to 10 (55-45) with 10:38 left, but Capkin came up with a pair of big buckets to keep the Jays at bay. He converted a feed from Nevolo with 10:00 left, then elevated on a baseline drive less than a minute later. Dorsey followed up with a driving lay-up to push the Bullets lead to 16 (61-45) with 8:09 to go, and Hopkins was unable to draw closer than 10 before Polster got hot.
Gettysburg shot 54.7% for the game while holding Hopkins to 39.7% shooting. The Bullets out-rebounded the Jays 37-29.
Sunday's championship game will mark the first-ever meeting between Gettysburg and Ursinus in the CC title match. The Bullets defeated Franklin & Marshall in 2001-02, beat Muhlenberg in 2000-01, and lost to F&M in 1995-96 in Gettysburg's other three other championship game appearances. Ursinus swept the season series from the Bullets this year.
