Box Score
LANCASTER, Pa. – The Gettysburg College men's basketball team will make its fifth appearance in the Centennial Conference championship game after posting a dominating 79-58 victory over second seed McDaniel College in the first semifinal game of the conference tournament Saturday (Feb. 28) at the Mayser Center. Sophomore center
Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) led the way with 21 points, while seniors
Dan Capkin (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) and
Corey Dorsey (Frederick, Md./St. Johns at Prospect Hall) each poured in 19 points.
Gettysburg (17-8), the third seed, will meet the winner of Saturday's second semifinal between top seed and host Franklin & Marshall College (21-4) and No. 5 Muhlenberg College (16-10) on Sunday, March 1, at 3 p.m. at the Mayser Center. It will be the second-straight trip to the finals for the Bullets, who also made the finale in 1996, 2001, 2002, and 2008, winning the conference title in its middle two appearances.
Gettysburg and McDaniel (18-8), coming off its best season in school history, split a pair of low-scoring affairs during the regular season, the Green Terror taking the first 56-53 in Westminster, Md., and the Bullets earning a 53-48 decision at home to close their season schedule. Saturday's semifinal had the makings of another low-scoring, tight-knit contest in the early going as Gettysburg held a slight 8-6 advantage just six minutes in.
Enter the Bullets' version of the “Three Musketeers” as Dorsey, Powers, and Capkin went to work on the offensive end over the next 11 minutes, scoring all 20 of Gettysburg's points and boosting the lead to 14 (28-14) following a conventional three-point play by Powers at 3:15. Sophomore
Paul Crone (Braddock Heights, Md./Middletown) extended the advantage to 17 (33-16) with a contested three-pointer just before the shot clock expired with 33 ticks left before the half, but McDaniel looked to go into the locker room on a positive note as T.J. Odunlami tossed up a high-arcing lay-up over a defender and converted the ensuing free throw to pull the Terror to 33-19 with 2.9 seconds left on the clock.
In a scene reminiscent of the Bullets' second-round NCAA victory last season, Gettysburg tossed the inbounds pass to Dorsey who took a dribble and hoisted a shot from the right of the F&M logo at center court. The 45-foot attempt was true and swished through the bottom of the net at the buzzer, giving Dorsey a game-high dozen points in the opening half.
Gettysburg continued the surge to start the final period, scoring each of the first seven points and taking a 24-point lead (43-19) following a jumper by Capkin at 17:40. The lead ballooned to as many as 32 points in the second period as the Bullets continued their hot shooting, nailing over 50 percent of their attempts from the field.
After a slow start, Gettysburg picked up its offense late in the first half and finished 27-of-55 (.491) from the floor, including 9-of-15 (.600) from beyond the arc against the best three-point shooting defensive team in the nation. The Bullets managed their largest rebounding advantage on the season, ripping down 42 boards to McDaniel's 25, topping the 10-board margin against Johns Hopkins University on Feb. 11. Gettysburg also stifled the Terror's three-point attack, holding them without a trey until 1:39 left in the game.
Powers, the 2009 CC Player of the Year, finished 7-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the free throw line and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Dorsey was 8-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 from distance, while Capkin nailed a game-high four three-pointers and dished out three assists for Gettysburg. Senior
Chris Nevolo (Neshanic Station, N.J./Somerville) was one off his personal mark with eight rebounds and Crone finished the game with eight points.
Odunlami led McDaniel with 11 points with Chad Arrington, Marcus Dyson, and Louis Sarris-Grau each contributing 10. Sarris-Grau led the rebounding effort with seven and blocked two shots.
The Bullets have played their potential final opponents in three of their four previous finals appearances, with two of those games occurring in Lancaster. Gettysburg lost to Franklin & Marshall 79-63 in 1996, but won each of its next two championship showings against Muhlenberg in 2001 (68-59) and Franklin & Marshall in 2002 (50-47). The Orange & Blue fell 85-78 to Ursinus last season. This past season, Gettysburg was the only conference school to sweep the series from Franklin & Marshall and split its two contests with Muhlenberg.
