Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Matt Brennan scored a game-high 21 points and Swarthmore College snapped Gettysburg's five-game winning streak with a 76-69 Centennial Conference (CC) victory over the Bullets Monday evening in Bream Gym.
 
Gettysburg (13-4, 8-2 CC) entered the night tied with 13th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College for first place in the conference standings, but now finds itself tied with Swarthmore (14-3, 8-2 CC) for second place.
 
The Bullets also saw their 10-game home winning streak come to an end, falling in Bream for the first time since a 72-60 loss to No. 4 Dickinson College on Feb. 4 of last season.
 
The game was originally scheduled to play this past Saturday but was postponed twice due to Winter Storm Jonas.
 
After missing his last three games with an injury, senior center Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) returned to score a team-high 14 points in 17 minutes off the bench for the Bullets. Junior forward Cody Kiefer (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) posted his fifth double-double of the season on 13 points and 12 rebounds to go with five assists while junior center Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) also scored 13 points. Sophomore guard Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) added 12 points for Gettysburg.
 
Brennan shot 9-for-11 at the foul line for Swarthmore, which connected on 18-for-25 free-throw attempts. Zack Yonda contributed 17 points for the Garnet, who swept the season series versus the Bullets, while Sean Thaxter grabbed 12 rebounds.
 
Neither side led by more than eight the entire night.
 
An extremely tight first half featured five ties and six lead changes, with neither side leading by more than six. Swarthmore used a 7-0 run to go up 26-21 with 7:12 left in the opening period before the Bullets came right back with an 8-0 spurt, capped by a Gladstone jumper with 3:59 on the clock. Sophomore guard Alex Kaslander (Verona, N.J./Verona) nailed a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining to give the hosts a 36-33 advantage at the break.
 
The Bullets took the lead briefly early in the second half when Kirkpatrick knocked down a pair of free throws with 18:55 showing to make it 38-37. However, it would turn out to be Gettysburg's last points for nearly five minutes, and a 6-0 Swarthmore run gave the visitors a 43-38 lead with 16:08 left.
 
The Bullets came back to tie the game (43-43) when Kiefer threaded the needle to find England cutting down the lane for a lay-up. But Henry Cousineau connected on a triple for the Garnet to give Swarthmore the lead for good. Sophomore forward Cam Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) went 3-for-3 at the foul line to pull Gettysburg to within one (59-58) with 7:27 left, but that's when the Garnet answered with a big 6-0 spurt to go up 65-58 with 4:02 remaining.
 
Gladstone made it a four-point (71-67) game with 48 seconds remaining when he converted a conventional 3-point play. But Swarthmore went 5-for-8 at the foul line the rest of the way while the Bullets missed their final three field-goal attempts.
 
Gettysburg returns home on Wednesday, when it takes on McDaniel College at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.