Box Score

SWARTHMORE, Pa. – All five Gettysburg starters scored in double figures and the Bullets pulled away in the second half for a 70-63 Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball victory at Swarthmore College Saturday afternoon.
 
Gettysburg (10-5, 6-2 CC), which won its third game in a row and swept the season series from Swarthmore, trailed 29-28 at halftime before outscoring the Garnet 42-34 in the second stanza.
 
After trailing by as much as 13, Swarthmore (6-9, 2-6 CC) pulled to within five (59-54) following a pair of Zack Yonda free throws with 2:27 left. But the Bullets clinched the victory at the foul line, where they went 9-for-10 in inside the final 2:09.
 
Sophomore forward Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) fronted the balanced attack, scoring a game-high 18 points while dishing out five assists and grabbing five rebounds. He scored 15 of his points in the opening half, when he shot 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.
 
Sophomore forward Cody Kiefer (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) added a season-high 15 points while sophomore guard Pete Christ (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) and junior forward Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) tossed in 11 points apiece. Senior guard Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) contributed 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
 
Yonda paced the Garnet with 17 points while Chris Bourne netted 16 points.
 
Gettysburg shot a season-high 90.0 percent (18-for-20) at the foul line and committed a season-low five turnovers.
 
The Bullets outscored Swarthmore 13-9 to start the game and held the lead for a 10-minute stretch in the middle of the half. Kirkpatrick's trey put the Bullets up 20-15 with 10:13 on the clock, but the Garnet rallied with a 6-0 run to take a 21-20 advantage with 7:21 showing.
 
The lead would change six times before the end of the half, and a lay-up from Yonda with 44 seconds left gave the hosts their one-point advantage at the break.
 
The see-saw affair continued early in the second half, which saw seven lead changes and one tie over the opening 4:21. But a 3-pointer by Gordon with 15:39 left gave the Bullets the lead (39-37) for good, and it was the start of a 9-0 run, which included another Gordon trey just over a minute later.
 
A lay-up from Robbie Walsh had Swarthmore within seven (47-40) with 11:05 to go, but that's when Gettysburg put together a decisive 7-1 run to pull away. Christ jump-started the surge with a 3-pointer, and Gladstone capped it with a lay-up to hand the Bullets their largest lead (54-41) of the day with 8:17 left.
 
The teams traded mini-runs over the next six minutes, and Yonda's late free throws capped a 6-0 Garnet spurt. But Gladstone, who shot 7-for-8 at the foul line for the game, answered with a pair of free throws, and after a Bullet stop, Kiefer dropped in a crucial lay-up with the shot clock winding down to put the Orange and Blue up 63-54 with 1:29 remaining.
 
After Gladstone split a trip at the line with 54 seconds to go, the Bullets made their final six free throws to neutralize three Swarthmore buckets inside the final minute. Gordon went 4-for-4 at the stripe down the stretch while Gladstone was 2-for-2.
 
Gettysburg returns to the court on Wednesday, when it visits McDaniel College at 8 p.m. in a Centennial Conference affair.