Box Score

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Malique Killing knocked down a jumper from the top of the key with 0.7 seconds left, completing a furious Muhlenberg College rally as the Mules defeated Gettysburg 45-43 in the first round of the Centennial Conference men's basketball tournament Wednesday evening at Memorial Hall.

With the loss, the Bullets season comes to a close at 12-14. Muhlenberg (17-9) moves on to play top-seeded Franklin & Marshall College in the semifinals on Friday.

The Mules trailed 31-14 at the half, but outscored the Bullets 31-12 in the second period, including 9-1 in the final 3:21. Killing scored Muhlenberg's final nine points.

Sophomore guard Sango Amolo (Falls Church, Va./McLean) scored a game- and season-high high 19 points to lead the Bullets while senior Derek Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) added 12 points in his final collegiate game. Sophomore center Christian Healy (Reading, Mass./Belmont Hill School) grabbed a career-high nine rebounds while senior center Christian Bors (Lanham, Md./Sidwell Friends [D.C.]), also playing in his final game, made a career-high four blocked shots.

Killing led the Mules with 16 points while Kevin Hargrove finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Amolo drew a foul driving to the rim with 18 seconds left and hit 1-of-2 free throws, tying the game at 43-all before Killing's game-winner. After the Bullets called timeout, the Mules tipped the final inbound pass as Gettysburg was unable to get off a shot.

The Bullets never trailed in the opening half, which started slowly for both teams. With less than 12 minutes to go, the scoreboard read just 8-2 in favor of the Bullets, as Gettysburg held the Mules to 1-for-14 shooting to open the night.

Gettysburg's lead reached double figures (15-4) when junior forward Connor Poston (Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) converted a fast-break lay-up with 8:33 on the clock. Muhlenberg trailed 23-14 after a Matt O'Hara 3-pointer with 3:40 showing, but the Bullets answered with a pair of treys to end the period. Amolo drained a triple from the top of the arc with 1:34 showing before freshman Brent Slotoroff (Linwood, N.J./St. Augustine Prep.) dialed long distance from the left elbow with eight seconds left to give the Bullets their 17-point halftime lead.

Muhlenberg was held to 20.7 percent shooting in the opening half while the Bullets connected on 46.4 percent of their shots. Amolo led Gettysburg with 14 points.

The Mules got back into it at the second half, outscoring the Bullets 11-2 to open the period. A 3-pointer from sophomore Joe Emerusabe (Derwood, Md./Magruder) put his team back up by double figures (36-25) with 12:08 left, and a Brooks jumper made it 40-27 with 9:42 to go. However, that's when Muhlenberg scored nine unanswered points to pull to within four following an Austin Curry 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining.

Amolo stemmed the rally with an acrobatic lay-up with 3:42 showing, but Killing answered for the Mules. His conventional 3-point play on a driving bank shot with 36 seconds left that gave the hosts their first lead (43-42) of the night, setting up Amolo's foul shot.

Three additional Gettysburg seniors who missed the game due to injury saw their careers come to an end. Alex Zurn (Brookeville, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) finished with 1,034 points as a Bullet while Benjamin Constable (Christchurch, New Zealand/Cashmere) and Larry Geedey (Elverson, Pa./Twin Valley) also helped Gettysburg reach the Centennial Conference playoffs in three of the last four years.