Box Score
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Freshman guard Alex Zurn (Brookeville, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) posted 17 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, leading the Gettysburg College men's basketball team to a big 69-57 victory at Muhlenberg College in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon at Memorial Hall.
With the win, the Bullets (12-10, 10-6 CC) move into a three-way tie with Muhlenberg and Ursinus for second place in the Centennial Conference with two games left on their schedule.
Spencer Liddic paced the Mules (12-11, 10-6 CC) with game-highs of 25 points and 16 rebounds.
Gettysburg, which overcame an early 12-2 deficit, also received 14 points and a game-high six assists from senior guard Brendan Hager (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga), who one game earlier broke the school's single-season assist record previously held by his father, Jeff, in 1980-81. Hager currently has 106 assists for the season.
Sophomore guard Brendan Trelease (Union, N.J./Roselle Catholic), coming off the bench after 12 straight starts, added a career-high 14 points and shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. Junior center Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) and junior forward Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) added nine points each. Making his first career start, sophomore forward Tim Lang (Boothwyn, Pa./Garnet Valley) scored four points.
Muhlenberg, which out-rebounded the Bullets 41-28, scored the first nine points of game, and Liddic dropped in six of his team's first 12 points. His lay-up with 13:16 on the clock gave Muhlenberg its early 10-point advantage, but Powers converted a conventional three-point play 36 seconds later, kicking off an 11-4 Bullet run. Hager nailed a trey with 10:07 on the clock to make it 16-13.
Gettysburg went to the long ball down the stretch to close the half strong. The Bullets took their first lead of the day when Zurn and Trelease connected on back-to-back 3's to make it 26-23 with 4:33 left, and Liddic gave the Mules their final lead of the game (27-26) with a free throw at the 2:14 mark. Trelease then made consecutive treys to push Gettysburg's lead to 32-27 with 1:20 to go. Liddic converted a put-back with 44 seconds left to make it a 32-29 game at the intermission.
Trelease scored 11 of his points to lead the Bullets in the opening period, shooting 3-for-4 from 3-point territory. Liddic had 15 points and 13 rebounds in the first half.
The Bullets opened the second half on a 14-6 run in which five different players scored to go up 46-35 with 14:15 left following a 3 from Kennedy. Gettysburg cruised the rest of the way, not allowing the Mules to get closer than eight the rest of the way.
Trelease canned his final 3 of the day with 11:02 remaining to make it a 12-point game, and lay-up from junior center Chip Naddaff (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) gave the Bullets their largest lead (57-43) of the day with 8:00 left. Muhlenberg threatened briefly after a pair of 3's from Ryan Tozer cut the gap to eight with 5:37 to go, but that's when Gettysburg held the Mules scoreless for a 4:13 stretch to put the game away. After a Brian Frankoski lay-up made it 64-55 with 56 seconds to play, the Bullets sealed the game at the foul line, making 5-of-6 free throws.
The Bullets shot 49.0 percent from the floor while holding Muhlenberg to a 38.3 percent mark, the 11th time of holding their opponent to sub-40 percent shooting.
Gettysburg plays its final home game of the season on Saturday, when it hosts Dickinson College at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.
