Box Score

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Gettysburg whittled a 17-point, second-half deficit down to one, but McDaniel hit a pair of crucial free throws with eight seconds left and the Green Terror held off the 25th-ranked Bullets, 56-53 at the Gill Center Wednesday evening in Centennial Conference men's basketball action.

With the loss, Gettysburg (13-4, 8-3 CC) dropped out of its first-place tie with Franklin & Marshall for first place in the conference standings. F&M defeated Dickinson Wednesday evening to claim sole possession of first place at 9-2. The Bullets are now tied with McDaniel for second place in the conference at 8-3.

Sophomore center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown), who scored a team-high 17 points, made it a one-point game (54-53) when he converted a conventional three-point play with 11 seconds left. But senior guard Ryan Finch, who knocked down a big three-pointer just 1:46 earlier, hit two foul shots in a 1-and-1 situation three seconds later, prompting a Gettysburg timeout.

Senior guard Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) rushed the ball upcourt for the Bullets and passed it to senior guard Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) on the right wing. Capkin dribbled to his left and let fly a potential game-tying three-pointer. But his shot rimmed out as time expired.

McDaniel (13-5, 8-3 CC) was led by senior forward Chad Arrington, who had game-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds.

After playing only seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, senior forward Joe Spierenburg (Chambersburg, Pa./St. Maria Goretti [Md.]) scored 10 of his 12 points and grabbed five of his six rebounds in the second half for the Bullets. Capkin, who sent the game to overtime with a three-pointer in Gettysburg's overtime win at McDaniel last season, scored all nine of his points on a trio of three-pointers to help fuel Gettysburg's late comeback. He also tied a career-high with six assists.

Powers, whose playing time was also limited in first half due to foul trouble, finished 7-for-7 at the foul line.

The Green Terror led 47-30 after a Finch three-pointer with 8:52 left, but that's when the Bullets dug in for a 16-1 run over the ensuing 6:27. Spierenburg sparked the rally with a pair of lay-ups before senior guard Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. John's at Prospect Hall) knocked down two free throws to make it 47-36. Powers pulled the Bullets to within single digits (47-38) with a lay-up at the 5:25 mark before Spierenburg dropped in another lay-up with 3:58 to go.

After a McDaniel free throw, Capkin hit back-to-back threes to make it a two-point game (48-46) with 2:25 showing. But that's when Finch scored the Green Terror's first field goal in nearly seven minutes, draining a trey from the top of the arc to make it 51-46 with 1:54 left.

A Powers lay-up made it 53-50 with 22 seconds to go before junior guard Miguel Jones hit 1-of-2 free throws one second later, setting up Powers' late three-point play.

After shooting just 34.8 percent in the second half, the Bullets canned 60.0 percent of their shots in the second stanza to finish at 46.5 percent for the night. McDaniel opened hot, shooting 55.0 over the opening 20 minutes, but made just 32.0 of their second-half field goals en route to a 42.2 percent night.

The Bullets went 9-for-10 at the foul line but had eight fewer free-throw attempts, as McDaniel went 12-for-18 at the line. Both teams committed 17 turnovers.

Spierenburg was whistled for his second foul with 13:02 left, and the Green Terror proceeded to go on a 7-0 run to open up a 17-8 lead with 10:52 left following a T.J. Odunlami steal and lay-up. Gettysburg scored the next five points to pull to within four after sophomore guard Paul Crone (Braddock Heights, Md./Middletown) drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 8:41 showing to make it 17-13.

Powers was forced to leave the game for the remainder of the half after he was called for his second foul on a charge with 5:50 left, and McDaniel came back with another 7-0 run to assume its largest lead of the half (24-13) after a three-pointer from sophomore forward Michael Jarboe with 5:36 to go. But Nevolo stopped the bleeding with a pair of lay-ups sandwiched around a Crone jumper as the Bullets cut the gap to five (24-19) with 3:09 on the clock.

The Green Terror shut out Gettysburg over the remainder of the half, however, and the hosts pushed their lead to nine 26-19 at the half. Arrington threw down an emphatic put-back dunk with 2:52 left before sophomore guard Kevin Henry drilled a long jumper seconds before the buzzer.

Arrington scored 12 of his points in the first half.

The Terror continued its run into the second period, scoring the first five points of the stanza to up its lead to 14. Four straight points from Powers made it a 35-25 game with 15:50 left, but McDaniel reeled off seven straight points to open up a 17-point advantage with 11:31 left. The lead hit 17 on two more occasions before Gettysburg started its comeback.

The Bullets return to Centennial Conference action on Saturday, when they host Washington (Md.) College at 4 p.m.