Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore forward Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) scored a game- and career-high 14 points while freshman forward Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) notched his first career double-double as the Gettysburg College men's basketball team used a big second half to beat Johns Hopkins University 64-55 in Centennial Conference action Wednesday evening in Bream Gymnasium.

After trailing by one at the half, the Bullets (10-12, 8-7 CC) outscored the Blue Jays 37-27 in the second stanza while pushing their lead to as much as 13 inside the final two minutes.

With the win, Gettysburg stayed alive in the Centennial Conference playoff race but with three games left, still trails by two games for the fifth and final spot. Johns Hopkins, Muhlenberg College, and Franklin & Marshall College are currently in a three-way tie for third place in the standings at 10-5.

Gladstone shot 5-for-7 from the field while Kirkpatrick scored 13 points and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds. Junior guard Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) added 10 points, nine rebounds, and six assists for Gettysburg, which outrebounded Hopkins 43-31 and completed a season sweep of the Blue Jays.

Austin Vasiliadis led Hopkins (13-9, 10-5 CC) with 13 points while George Bugarinovic contributed 12 points and nine rebounds.

Gettysburg's leading scorer, freshman forward Cody Kiefer (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) did not play, sitting out with an injury.

After trailing 28-27 at halftime, Kirkpatrick drained a 3-pointer a minute into the second period, and the Bullets would not trail again. Hopkins tied it at 35-all on a Niko Kotoulas lay-up with 13:48 remaining, but that's when Gettysburg answered with a decisive 8-0 run over the next 3:16, when four different Bullets scored a bucket.

The Blue Jays edged to within five, but Gettysburg answered again, pushing its lead to 51-40 with 7:38 to go following a trey from junior guard Joe Emerusabe (Derwood, Md./Magruder). The Orange and Blue would lead by at least eight the rest of the way and salted their victory at the foul line, where they were 7-for-8 inside the last 2:17 and Gordon, Gladstone, and junior guard Mark Siden (Hastings, N.Y./Hastings) all went 2-for-2.

Hopkins led by as much as eight on three occasions in the first half, the last coming after a Matt Billups lay-in made it 19-11 with 8:22 remaining in the period. But Gettysburg climbed back into it with an 8-3 spurt, jumpstarted by an acrobatic, conventional 3-point play from Gordon with 6:37 on the clock.

Gene Williams went 2-for-2 at the foul line to make it 28-23 with 2:29 to go, but freshman center Mlynue Reeves (Washington, D.C./Church Farm School [Pa.]) converted a lay-up off a Gordon feed with 1:27 showing before freshman guard Pete Christ (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) canned a jumper with 57 seconds left, drawing the Bullets to within a point at the intermission.

Gettysburg plays its final home game of the regular season on Saturday, when it hosts Centennial Conference opponent Haverford College at 2 p.m. on Senior Day.