Box Score GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College men's basketball team held Swarthmore College to 19 second-half points and the Bullets used a strong defensive performance to rally past the Garnet 53-48 in its Centennial Conference (CC) opener Saturday afternoon in Bream Gym.
Sophomore guard
Pete Christ (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) scored a game-high 14 points for Gettysburg (3-1, 1-0 CC) while junior forward
Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) scored nine of his team's 11 points during a crucial run late in the game. Senior guard
Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) added 10 points on 3-of-6 3-point shooting to go with four assists for the Bullets.
Gettysburg trailed by nine at halftime and by 11 early in the second half before making a defensive stand midway through the final stanza to climb back into it.
The Bullets held Swarthmore (0-3, 0-1 CC) to 35.7 percent shooting, including just a 29.6 percent mark in the second half.
Karl Barkley paced the Garnet with 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists while Sam Lebryk also netted 11 points.
The win marked victory No. 350 at Gettysburg for head coach
George Petrie, the all-time winningest coach in program history.
A lay-up by Chris Bourne with 17:07 remaining handed Swarthmore its largest lead (33-22) of the game, but that's when the Bullets used a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to six following a Christ trey with 14:10 remaining.
Luke McCartin dropped in a fast-break lay-up to put Swarthmore up 36-28 with 12:16 showing, but Gettysburg would hold the visitors scoreless over the next 4:26. Bourne snapped the drought when he converted a layup with 7:49 left to make it 38-35.
The Bullets pulled even at 38-all on a free throw by sophomore forward
Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) with 7:06 remaining, but after both teams failed to score over the next 2:30, Gladstone - limited to 18 minutes due to foul trouble - sparked Gettysburg down the stretch. His conventional 3-point play with 4:35 left gave the Bullets their first lead (41-38), which they would not relinquish, and he converted a dish from Kirkpatrick with 3:54 left to make it 43-40.
Gordon canned a triple from the top of the arc with 2:35 to go that made it 46-42, but Barkley answered with a trey at the other end. However, Gladstone took a lob pass from Gordon and finished underneath to give his team a three-point lead before the Bullets forced a shot-clock violation. Gladstone then drew a foul and knocked down both free throws to nudge his team's lead to 50-45 with 38 seconds remaining.
Swarthmore refused to go away, however, as Jim Lammers drained a 3 from the right corner with 30 ticks showing. But eight seconds later Christ nailed a pair of free throws to make it 52-48 before Gordon came up with a big play. Hauling in defensive rebound with his momentum taking him over the baseline, he called a timeout in midair to give his team possession. He went on to hit 1-of-2 at the stripe with 10 seconds left to set the final score.
The Bullets trailed 16-14 with 8:15 left in the opening half following a
Vitor Melo (Brasilia, Brazil/Lee [Maine]) lay-up, but that's when Swarthmore used an 8-0 run over the next 4:47 to open up its first double-digit lead (24-14) of the game. Gettysburg pulled to within four after a pair of Christ free throws but Lebryk connected from beyond the arc with 37 seconds left to put the visitors up 29-22 at the break.
Gettysburg takes to the road for the first time this season on Tuesday, when it visits 14th-ranked Dickinson College at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.
