Box Score

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Devon Lesniak scored eight of his team's final 10 points in regulation, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, and the Green Terror used a late rally to beat Gettysburg 67-65 in a Centennial Conference men's basketball thriller Wednesday evening in the Gill Center.

Gettysburg (9-7, 6-3 CC), which saw its five-game winning streak come to end, erased a 12-point deficit in the first half and seemed to be headed for a win in regulation after leading 53-46 with 1:53 left. But the Green Terror (9-7, 6-3 CC) ended with a 10-3 run, capped by Lesniak's trey.

Senior center Andrew Powers and Lesniak shared game-high scoring honors with 29 points apiece while Powers also grabbed eight rebounds. Senior forward Kevin Kennedy added 11 points and seven rebounds while junior forward Tim Lang tossed in 10 points for Gettysburg, which was playing its first overtime game in nearly three years. The Bullets had not played bonus basketball since their 66-65 victory at, ironically, McDaniel on Jan. 30, 2008.

Louis Sarris-Grau and Cullen Murray-Kemp contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench for McDaniel, which snapped a four-game losing streak against the Bullets. Marcus Dyson had seven points and eight rebounds for the Terror.

The game featured the Centennial Conference's top two defenses, as McDaniel entered the night holding its opponents to 57.9 points per game and the Bullets holding the opposition to 58.1 points per game.

Kennedy completed a conventional 3-point play to give Gettysburg its 53-46 lead before Lesniak put his team on his back. He came up with a steal and lay-up to spark McDaniel's game-ending run while snapping a 6:21 McDaniel scoreless drought, and his 3-pointer with 51 seconds left made it 54-51.

After a Dyson lay-up with 20 ticks showing cut it to 55-53, Powers went to the foul line for two shots with 7.9 seconds left. He made the first but missed the second, and McDaniel ran it up court before Lesniak's game-tying trey from the right elbow.

Lesniak continued to stay hot when he drove in for a lay-up 21 seconds into overtime. But Gettysburg came back to take the lead three more times, first on a lay-in from Lang, then on a 3-ball from Kennedy that made it 63-61 with 1:56 on the clock.

Murray-Kemp answered with a triple of his own with 46 seconds left before Lang went 1-for-2 at the line with 29 seconds remaining. Sarris-Grau then drew a foul with 8.2 ticks showing and made both free throws, giving McDaniel a 66-65 lead.

The Bullets then took it the length of the court but turned it over, and Lesniak made 1-of-2 free throws with 0.8 seconds left to set the final score.

Gettysburg, which trailed Muhlenberg 9-0 to start the game before rallying to win on Saturday, struggled out of the gates once again, falling behind 7-0 to start the contest. Powers put the Bullets on the scoreboard with the team's first six points, starting with a jumper at the 15:57 mark. His two free throws made it 9-6, but McDaniel answered with a 12-3 run over the next 7:14, and a Lesniak jumper made it 21-9 with 7:13 left.

Powers snapped a 5:08 Gettysburg scoring drought when he dropped in a spinning jumper with the shot clock winding down with 5:32 remaining in the opening period. McDaniel led 28-16 before Powers scored the final four points of the period, banking in a shot with 1:55 left before hitting a pair of foul shots with 7.8 seconds to go as the Bullets went into the locker room trailing 28-20.

Lesniak and Powers led all players with 12 points apiece in the opening half. Gettysburg was held to 36.8 percent shooting and committed 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Powers carried the Bullets at the start of the second half, scoring 13 of the team's first 17 points. Gettysburg opened the second half on an 8-1 run to pull to within one, with Powers scoring six points during the stretch. His jumper in the lane made it 29-28 with 17:07 to go.

The Bullets tied the game for the first time since the opening tip after Powers scored five straight points, nailing a 3-pointer from the left elbow before hitting a pair at the line to make it 35-35 with 12:38 remaining

After the Green Terror pushed its lead back to five (46-41), the Bullets dug in for a 12-0 run. Five different players scored during the stretch, and a pair of Trelease foul shots put Gettysburg in front for the first time at 47-46 with 4:53 left before Kennedy's 3-point play gave the Bullets their largest lead of the night.

Gettysburg returns to the court on Saturday, when it hosts Haverford College at 4 p.m. in a Centennial Conference match-up.