Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. – The Gettysburg College men's basketball team's bid for a record fourth straight appearance in the Centennial Conference championship game came up short on Saturday, as the third-seeded Bullets dropped a 71-62 decision to second-seeded Dickinson College at tournament host Franklin & Marshall College.

The Bullets, whose season ends at 14-12, were led by senior forward Kevin Kennedy, who scored a season-high 21 points and picked up a career-high four steals while shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. He finished his career tied for sixth in school history in 3-pointers made with 127.

Senior center Andrew Powers added 16 points and five rebounds before fouling out with 1:05 left to close out his brilliant career. He also handed out two assists to tie Steve Gordon '96 for the school's career record of 270. Powers is believed to be only the fifth player in Division III men's basketball history to finish as his school's career leader in points and assists, as he scored 1,946 points, just 27 shy of the Centennial Conference record set by Ursinus' Nick Shattuck from 2004-08.

Matt Dolan scored 17 points to lead Dickinson (15-11). The Red Devils received 23 points from its bench, getting 12 from Pat Kearns and eight from Greg Nichol. Dickinson will now play top-seeded Franklin & Marshall, a 71-62 winner over fifth-seeded Haverford in the other semifinal, in Sunday's championship game.

The Bullets led 39-35 at halftime before Dickinson took the lead for good with 13:37 left on a Kearns lay-up that made it 45-44. The game remained close the rest of the way, with the Devils taking a double-digit lead just once before icing the game at the foul line. Dickinson made 10-of-12 free throws inside the last 1:22.

Gettysburg trailed only twice in the first half and bolted to an 18-10 lead seven and a half minutes into the contest. For the second straight game, Powers kick-started the Bullets hot start, scoring the Bullets first nine points while making his first four shots. Kennedy, junior guard Brendan Trelease, and sophomore guard Derek Brooks followed up with three straight 3-pointers to cap the run.

Dickinson came back to take the lead after an 8-0 surge made it 35-34 following a pair of Tucker Landy free throws with 2:47 left. But a Brooks jumper and a Kennedy trey gave the Bullets their four-point halftime advantage.

Kennedy led all players with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first half while Powers had 11 points at the break.

Chris Barsanti gave Dickinson a spark coming out of the locker room, throwing down a pair of dunks to tie the game with 18:47 remaining. Junior forward Tim Lang answered with a conventional three-point play and a pair of Kennedy free throws made it 44-41 before the Red Devils went in front to stay following a 5-0 spurt.

Dickinson slowly pulled away the rest of the game and led 63-55 with 1:22 showing after a couple of Adam Honig foul shots. After a Powers bucket with 1:10 to go, the Devils made four straight free throws to extend their lead to 67-57. Kennedy gave the Bullets a glimmer of hope when he canned a triple with 46 seconds showing, and after Dickinson went 1-for-2 at the stripe, a Lang put-back made it 68-62 with 12 seconds left. But Kearns knocked down two more foul shots with eight ticks showing to send the Devils to their first Centennial Conference championship game since 1997.

GETTYSBURG (14-12)
Kevin Kennedy 7-12 3-4 21; Andrew Powers 6-10 3-5 16; Brendan Trelease 2-6
3-4 9; Derek Brooks 4-12 0-0 9; Tim Lang 3-4 1-3 7; Ben Constable 0-0 0-0 0;
Scott Peterson 0-0 0-0 0; Larry Geedey 0-0 0-0 0; Connor Poston 0-0 0-0 0;
Paul Crone 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 10-16 62.
DICKINSON (15-11)
Matt Dolan 6-10 2-2 17; Pat Kearns 3-4 6-7 12; Adam Honig 2-8 4-4 9; Chris
Heine 3-7 0-0 8; Greg Nicol 4-5 0-0 8; Chris Barsanti 3-4 1-1 7; Tucker
Landy 2-3 3-3 7; Logan Furr 1-3 1-2 3; Douglas Jakiela 0-2 0-2 0; Gavin
Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-46 17-21 71.
Gettysburg.................... 39 23 - 62
Dickinson..................... 35 36 - 71
3-point goals--Gettysburg 8-21 (Kevin Kennedy 4-7; Brendan Trelease 2-5;
Derek Brooks 1-4; Andrew Powers 1-1; Paul Crone 0-4), Dickinson 6-15 (Matt
Dolan 3-5; Chris Heine 2-5; Adam Honig 1-3; Logan Furr 0-1; Pat Kearns 0-1).
Fouled out--Gettysburg-Andrew Powers, Dickinson-None. Rebounds--Gettysburg
20 (Andrew Powers 5; Derek Brooks 5), Dickinson 28 (Greg Nicol 8).
Assists--Gettysburg 9 (Andrew Powers 2; Derek Brooks 2), Dickinson 15
(Tucker Landy 4). Total fouls--Gettysburg 20, Dickinson 19. Technical
fouls--Gettysburg-None, Dickinson-None. A-737
Centennial Conference Semifinals