Box Score GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore guard
Pete Christ (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) tied a career-high with 22 points and the Gettysburg College men's basketball team outscored Muhlenberg College 46-29 in the second half en route to a 75-54 Centennial Conference victory Saturday afternoon in Bream Gymnasium.
The Bullets (8-5, 4-2 CC), playing their first home game since Dec. 10, shot a scorching 70.8 percent (17-of-24) in their big second stanza, which marked the team's highest-scoring period of the season. Gettysburg finished with its second-high scoring output of the year.
Christ, who scored his uniform number for the third time this season, shot 9-for-14 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
Sophomore forward
Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) added 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting for Gettysburg while senior guard
Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) registered 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a career-high-tying four steals. He also moved into 10th in school history in career assists, pushing his total to 212.
Junior center
Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) added 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots for the Bullets, who dished out a season-high 20 assists. Sophomore forward
Cody Kiefer (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) grabbed 10 rebounds.
Alec Stavetski shot 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 18 points to lead Muhlenberg (7-6, 2-4 CC).
The Mules led for most of the first half, though their advantage never exceeded six. The visitors led 18-14 with 7:13 left before the Bullets took the lead for good following an 8-0 run. Christ kicked off the spurt with a 3-pointer before Kirkpatrick added a conventional 3-point play. Kirkpatrick then capped the surge when he accepted a pass from Kiefer, slashed through the lane, and flushed a dunk to make it 22-18 with 4:49 on the clock.
Christ scored the final points of the half when he converted a lay-up to make it 29-25 with 1:20 showing.
An 8-2 Gettysburg run early in the second half pushed the hosts' lead to 12 (44-32) with 15:52 left after a fastbreak lay-up from Christ. Stavetski answered with a jumper 17 seconds later, but it would be Muhlenberg's last field goal for the next six minutes, when the Mules could manage only a pair of free throws spaced four minutes apart. In the meantime, the Bullets broke the game open with a 14-1 run, capped by a Gladstone lay-up that made it 58-36 with 9:35 remaining. Gettysburg shot 6-for-7 from the floor during the stretch, which included 3-pointers from Gordon and Christ.
The Bullets extended their lead to as much as 27 (65-38) with 6:30 left, and Muhlenberg was unable to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
Gettysburg returns home on Tuesday, when it hosts Haverford College at 6 p.m. in the first game of a men's-women's doubleheader.
