Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Gettysburg opened the game on a 8-0 run, but it was all Ursinus the rest of the way as the No. 16-ranked Bears rolled into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament with a 79-55 victory over the Bullets in the Sweet 16 Friday evening in front of a filled-to-the-brim Helfferich Hall.
The Bullets saw their winningest season in program history come to a close at 24-5, as the team won four more games than any Gettysburg team ever, including its first two NCAA Tournament victories. The Orange & Blue finished 24-1 against teams not named Ursinus, as the Bears won all four of its meetings with the Bullets.
Ursinus (28-2) will now take on Coast Guard, who upset No. 13 Rochester 57-48 in the other Sweet 16 game at the Ursinus sectional.
Junior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) led Gettysburg with 17 points while backcourt mate Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) added 14. Junior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti (Md.)) and freshman center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) grabbed seven rebounds apiece.
Powers was held to a season-low five points but finished the season with a Gettysburg freshman record 433 points.
Guard John Noonan paced the Bears with 22 points while center Michael Shema added a career-high 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting to go with 10 rebounds. Matt Hilton contributed 13 points, and guard Remy Cousart grabbed nine rebounds and handed out seven assists. The Bullets held all-America guard Nick Shattuck to 10 points, 12 below his season average.
After his last-minute, game-saving scoring spree in the Bullets' second-round win over Elms on Saturday, Dorsey picked up right where he left off, canning a pair of quick three-pointers inside the first two minutes as Gettysburg got out to its quick start. But that's when Ursinus used a 12-4 run to pull even at 12-12 following a pair of Cousart free throws with 14:55 left in the opening half.
The Bears took their first lead on a Noonan three-pointer with 13:04 on the clock. Capkin drove the left baseline to make it 19-16 with 10:37 to go, but Ursinus pulled ahead with a 9-2 spurt to open up a double-digit lead (28-18) with 6:38 left after another Noonan trey.
Ursinus pushed its lead to as much as 14 (36-22) on a Shema put-back with 2:18 on the clock, and Shattuck dropped in a lay-up six seconds before the buzzer to give his team a 41-29 lead at the break.
Noonan and Shema accounted for 29 of Ursinus' first half points, scoring 15 and 14, respectively. Noonan canned 3-of-4 three-pointers in the opening half while Shema converted all six of his field-goal attempts.
It was also a two-man show for Gettysburg in the opening stanza, with Dorsey scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Capkin driving into the lane often for 12 points.
Each team shot 50.0% in the opening half, but the Bears out-rebounded the Bullets 7-2 on the offensive glass and outscored Gettysburg 10-0 on second-chance points. The Bullets also committed six more (14-8) turnovers than Ursinus in the first period.
Ursinus opened the second half on a 10-2 run as the Bears' lead ballooned to 20 (51-31) after a pair of Noonan free throws with 17:23 left. Shema had two more buckets in his team's early run.
The Bears extended their lead to as much as 24 on a pair of occasions before an 11-2 Gettysburg run cut the deficit to 15 (60-45) with 11:08 to go. Junior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) started the spurt with a pair of free throws before a pair of Spierenburg baskets made it 60-39. Capkin cut the lead to under 20 with a turnaround jumper at the 13:05 mark, and a lay-up from Powers made it a 60-45 game.
Gettysburg hit a cold spell after their run, however, managing only a Powers free throw over the next six-and-a-half minutes. In the meantime, the Bears reeled off a 13-1 run to put the game out of reach, pushing their lead to 73-46 with 4:47 left. The Bullets emptied their bench shortly thereafter.
The Bullets made just 30.3% of their shots in the second half and finished at 38.6% for the game. Ursinus shot 46.7% and outscored Gettysburg 18-7 at the foul line. The Bears out-rebounded Gettysburg 42-32.
