Box Score

HAVERFORD, Pa. – Haverford College ended the game on a 20-2 run and the host Fords defeated Gettysburg College 65-55 in Centennial Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Goodling Arena.

Senior center Andrew Powers scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Bullets (4-2, 2-1 CC), shooting 9-for-11 at the foul line and passing Dan Capkin '09 to move into fifth on Gettysburg's all-time scoring list. He now has 1,531 points for his career. Freshman guard Stephen Poarch added 12 points for the Bullets.

Sam Permutt and Cam Baker scored 16 points apiece to lead Haverford (3-3, 2-1 CC) while Bo Friddell contributed 15 points.

It was an extremely close game for the first 30 minutes, which featured six ties and 16 lead changes. Gettysburg enjoyed its largest lead of the night when Poarch completed a conventional 3-point play with 8:07 left, capping a 9-0 run and making it 53-45. However, the Bullets made just one of their final nine field goals and committed seven turnovers the rest of the way.

Permutt kicked off Haverford's big run with a conventional 3-point play, and Ian Goldberg nailed a trey with 4:43 left put the Fords up 55-53. Poarch ended the Bullets' drought with a lay-up at the 3:16 mark to even the score, but it would turn out to be Gettysburg's final points of the day.

A Permutt lay-up with 3:00 left put the Fords on top to stay, but it was still a two-possession game (60-55) with less than a minute left after Friddell made one of two free throws with 59 seconds remaining. However, senior forward Kevin Kennedy missed a 3-pointer at the other end and Permutt went 1-of-2 at the stripe once again after grabbing the rebound. The Bullets then turned it over on their next two possessions, and Baker put it out of reach with a steal and lay-up to make it an eight-point game with 31 seconds left.

The first half featured five ties and four lead changes, with neither side leading by more than five. The Bullets took their first lead when sophomore forward Alex Zurn hit a pair of free throws with 15:38 left to make it 11-9, and Gettysburg had its largest lead of the period following a Powers lay-up with 12:05 on the clock that capped an 11-4 run and made it 18-13.

Haverford responded with a 9-2 surge that gave the hosts a 22-20 advantage after a Friddell trey with 8:53 to go. There were two more ties and two more lead changes before the end of the half, and a Brett Cohen put-back at the buzzer put the Fords up 28-27 at the intermission.

Gettysburg shot 47.4 percent and out-rebounded the Fords 16-13 in the opening stanza but committed four more turnovers (10-6) than their counterparts.

The lead changed hands 12 times in the second half, including 10 over an incredibly tight 4:43 stretch midway through the period in which neither team led by more than one.

The Bullets, who shot 42.6 percent for the game, were just 3-for-13 from 3-point range and committed 20 turnovers. Haverford shot 56.0 in the second half to finish at 49.1 percent for the game – the highest an opponent has shot against Gettysburg this season – despite going just 3-for-12 from beyond the arc. The Bullets held a 33-30 advantage on the boards.

Gettysburg returns to Centennial Conference play and continues its six-game road trip on Wednesday, when it visits No. 15 Franklin & Marshall College at 8 p.m. in a rematch of last season's Centennial Conference championship game.