Box Score

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Gettysburg erased a 17-point second-half deficit and held on to defeat host Muhlenberg College 51-49 in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon.

The Bullets (8-2, 3-1 CC) trailed 37-20 with 16:03 left but used a 27-8 run to take the lead with 4:20 left. Muhlenberg (5-5, 1-3 CC) had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but a Peter Barnes jumper was off the mark.

Sophomore center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) led the Bullets, scoring 13 of his 18 points in the second half while pulling down nine rebounds. Senior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) scored all 10 of his points in the first half while senior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti [Md.]) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and blocked four shots. Senior guard Dan Capkin (Wynewood, Pa./Lower Merion) added eight points and pulled into a tie with Jeff Clark '75 for sixth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,250 points.

Ryan Foster led Muhlenberg with 14 points and seven rebounds while Spencer Liddic added 11 points and six boards.

Dorsey scored six of the team's first eight points as the Bullets jumped to an 8-3 lead, but that's when Gettysburg went into an offensive drought, going over 10 minutes without a field goal. A pair of free throws from senior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) gave the Bullets a 10-9 lead, but the Orange and Blue failed to score over the next 8:05, missing nine straight shots and committing a pair of turnovers. In the meantime, the Mules ran off 12 unanswered points to built a 21-10 lead with 9:58 on the clock.

Powers sparked an 8-2 Bullet run with a lay-up at the 7:10 mark, and Dorsey followed up with a conventional three-point play to make it 23-17 with 6:04 showing. However, Dorsey's bucket would end up being Gettysburg's last of the period, as the Bullets managed only a pair of free throws the rest of the way. A Powers foul shot made it 23-18 with 5:32 left, but Muhlenberg ended the half on a 7-2 surge to take a 30-20 advantage into the locker room.

The Bullets shot just 28.0% shooting for the half while the Mules connected on 40.0% of their shots.

Muhlenberg scored the first seven points of the second half while the Bullets missed their first six shots, and a Foster trey gave the Mules their 17-point lead. But that's when Gettysburg used a 7-0 run to get back into it, and a three-pointer from sophomore forward Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) made it 37-27 with 14:18 to go.

A lay-up from Powers cut the deficit to single digits (39-30) with 11:58 remaining before Obi Nwizugbo hit a jumper for Muhlenberg. However, Powers scored five points during an 8-0 Bullet outburst to make it a one-possession game (41-38) with 8:33 left. Powers converted an old-fashioned three-point play and hit a pair of free throws sandwiched around a Capkin trey.

Capkin's second trey of the game with 4:20 to go gave his team its first lead (47-45) since the 15:15 mark of the first half. Junior guard Brendan Hager (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) added a steal and lay-up nine seconds later, and after a Barnes jumper, Powers scored Gettysburg's final points on a lay-up with 2:19 to go.

Foster set the final score with a pair of free throws with 1:48 remaining. Powers missed a three-pointer and a lay-up before Nwizugbo misfired on a three-pointer that could have given Muhlenberg the lead with 39 seconds left. Spierenburg then missed a lay-up for the Bullets, and Foster snared the rebound with 19 ticks showing, setting up Barnes' last-second shot.

After going 6-for-11 from the line in the first half, the Bullets went 8-for-9 at the charity stripe in the second stanza to finish at 70.0% for the game. Gettysburg was held to 32.7% shooting, including 18.8% (3-of-16) from three-point range, while Muhlenberg connected on just 37.3% of its field-goal attempts and 53.3% (8-for-15) of its foul shots.

The Bullets return to Bream Gymnasium for the first time in 40 days when they play three home games in five days this week. Gettysburg opens the home stand when it takes on Haverford College on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Centennial Conference action.