Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior center Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) scored a game-high 17 points and the Gettysburg College men's basketball team held off a late McDaniel College rally, topping the Green Terror 53-45 in the Centennial Conference tournament first-round game Wednesday evening in front of a spirited crowd in Bream Gym.
 
The fourth-seeded Bullets (15-11), who were playing their first home playoff game in seven years, advance to the conference semifinals and will visit 11th-ranked and top-seeded Johns Hopkins University at 8 p.m. on Friday.
 
Gettysburg also received 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench from sophomore guard Pete Christ (Pittstsown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) while senior guard Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) scored 10 points. Sophomore forward Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) contributed seven rebounds.
 
Andrew Merlo paced the fifth-seeded Green Terror (14-12) with 14 points while Tim Stewart posted 12 points and seven rebounds. Phillip Perry also scored 12 points for McDaniel.
 
The Bullets led by as much as 13 in the second half and Gordon nailed a 3-pointer with 5:08 left to make it a 47-37 game. But that's when McDaniel used an 8-2 run to draw to within four (49-45) following a 3-ball from Phillip Perry with 2:17 showing. However, the Green Terror failed to score the rest of the way, committing a pair of turnovers and missing their final two field-goal attempts, including a 3-pointer from Perry from the right corner with 25 seconds left that could have cut the lead to one. Gordon grabbed the rebound and hit a pair of clutch foul shots with 21 seconds left to make it 51-45.
 
After Perry misfired on another jumper, Christ rebounded and also proceeded to nail a pair at the stripe with 11 ticks showing and set the final score.
 
McDaniel led for nearly the entire way in a defensively-controlled first half. The Green Terror led 13-6 with 10:42 remaining in the period, but the Bullets held McDaniel scoreless over the next six minutes. In the meantime, the Bullets scored six unanswered points, and a lay-up from freshman forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) pulled the Bullets to a point with 5:00 on the clock. Gladstone gave his team its first lead of the night (16-15) with a lay-up at the 1:38 mark, and the Bullets would never trail again. Senior guard Joe Emerusabe (Derwood, Md./Magruder) drained a triple from the right elbow with 53 seconds left to give the Bullets a 19-15 advantage at the intermission.
 
Gettysburg held McDaniel to 31.8 percent shooting in the first half, but the Bullets shot just 30.4 percent.
 
The Green Terror drew to within one (21-20) on a Merlo 3-pointer with 18:53 left, but that's when the Bullets made another defensive stand, holding McDaniel scoreless for nearly four minutes. Christ handed Gettysburg a seven-point lead on three occasions, including a 3-pointer at the 12:58 mark and a pair of free throws 51 seconds later. After McDaniel twice pulled to within four, Gettysburg opened up some breathing room with an 8-2 run. Four different Bullets scored during the decisive stretch, which was capped by a 3-pointer from Kirkpatrick, stretching Gettysburg's lead to 40-27.
 
Gladstone knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 42-31, but McDaniel scored the next four points to pull to within seven before Gordon's late 3-pointer made it 47-37.
 
Friday's game will mark Gettysburg's first appearance in the Centennial Conference semifinals since 2011. The winner of the game will move on to the conference championship game, which will be held back at Johns Hopkins on Saturday at 7 p.m.