Tournament Website

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College men's basketball team will open its 2009-10 season Friday and Saturday when it hosts Catholic University, Messiah College, and Wittenberg University in 19th annual Days Inn Tip-Off Tournament.

The tournament kicks off on Friday at 6 p.m., when the Bullets host Messiah. Catholic and Wittenberg follow with their first-round game at 8 p.m.

The consolation game is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. while the championship game will tip off at 4 p.m.

All four games will be streamed live on a pay-per view basis at www.gettysburgsports.com/showcase/#liveevents. 

The Bullets are the defending tournament champions after topping SUNY Geneseo in last year's title game. They have captured three of the last four and six of the last eight titles.

This year's tournament promises to be highly competitive once again, as it includes three teams that finished .500 or better last season and two that reached the ECAC or NCAA playoffs. The tournament will feature schools from four different conferences (Centennial, Commonwealth, Landmark, NCAC), and two of the three visiting teams have competed in the tournament previously. Messiah played in the 2007 tourney, defeating Wesley College 73-63 in the first round before losing to Gettysburg 81-67 in the championship game. Catholic made its only appearance in the tournament back in 1993, when it lost 91-78 to the Bullets in the first round and fell to Albright College 73-47 in the consolation game. Wittenberg is making its debut appearance in the Days Inn Tournament.

What follows are brief summaries on each team in the tournament.

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY CARDINALS
The Cardinals have started the season 1-1 after taking runner-up honors at the York (Pa.) College White Rose City Classic Championship this past Sunday and Monday. Catholic opened the tournament with a 70-58 win over St. Vincent College before dropping a 82-76 decision to York in the championship game. Junior forward Jason Banzhaf has led the team in the early going, posting 18.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while connecting on 53.6 percent of his shots. Freshman forwards Chris Kearney (11.0 ppg) and Clay Penecale (10.5 ppg) have averaged double figure scoring totals coming off the bench while Kearney is also leading the team with seven blocked shots. Junior guard R.J. Dixon has paced the Cardinals with 6.5 assists per night. Last season, Catholic finished 18-10 and 8-6 in the Landmark Conference, placing fourth in the conference standings and reaching the Landmark playoffs. The Cardinals were also selected to the ECAC playoffs and advanced to the semifinals. The team returns three starters from last season including Banzhaf, a First Team All-Landmark selection who led the conference in scoring with 20.3 points per game.

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE BULLETS
The Bullets are the only team in this year's tournament that has not played a game yet. Gettysburg is coming off an 18-9 season in which won the Centennial Conference title. After placing third (11-7) in the conference standings, the Bullets defeated McDaniel College 79-58 in the semifinals before topping Franklin & Marshall College, ranked No. 23 at the time, 73-65 in the championship game at F&M. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Gettysburg dropped a 79-66 road decision at the The College of Wooster. Graduation claimed four of the Bullets starters from last season, but fortunately for the Orange & Blue, their lone returning starter - junior center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown)- is an All-American. Last season Powers led the team in scoring (18.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg) en route to earning NABC Third Team All-America and Centennial Conference Player of the Year honors. Also returning are junior forward Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard), the team's sixth man who played 21.0 minutes per game last year while posting 5.6 points per game, and senior guard Brendan Hager (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga), who played in every game and turned in a 1.74 assist-to-turnover ratio.

MESSIAH COLLEGE FALCONS
Messiah is set to open its season tonight with a non-conference game at home against Eastern University. The Falcons bring back three starters and four of their top five scorers from last season's 9-17 squad, led by senior forward Andy Hawk, a Second Team All-Commonwealth Conference selection. Hawk was the team's leading scorer (11.8 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg) last year and shot 52.7 percent from the field. Also returning are senior guards Jamie Yoder, who posted 10.8 points per game while leading the team with 52 three-pointers, and Kyle Snyder, who was among the team leaders in scoring (7.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg). The Falcons finished 6-6 in the Commonwealth Conference to earn a spot in the conference playoffs, where they lost 76-61 at Widener University in the semifinals.

WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY TIGERS
The Tigers played their season opener on Tuesday, defeating Cincinnati-Clermont 91-64 at home. Junior guard Chris Sullivan led the team with 19 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting while senior guard Gregg Hill added 16 points, making 4-of-8 three-point attempts. Wittenberg returns four of five starters from last year but two of them - sophomore wings Josh McKee and Michael Cooper - are unavailable this weekend. Both players are also members of the Tiger football team, which is competing in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The team's top returning scorer who will be available this weekend is senior guard David Nowicki, who averaged 7.9 points per game and shot 89.6 percent (43-for-48) at the foul line last season. Also returning is senior center Mark Snyder, who averaged 7.5 points per game a year ago. The Tigers finished 13-13 and 9-7 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) last season, tying for fourth in the conference standings. In the NCAC quarterfianls, Wittenberg dropped a 65-60 decision to Kenyon College.