Box Score LANCASTER, Pa. – Gettysburg nearly erased a 22-point deficit, but the Bullets' comeback fell short in a 71-60 loss at 22nd-ranked Franklin & Marshall College in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Wednesday evening.
With the loss, Gettysburg (15-8, 10-6 CC) is now in fourth place in the conference standings with two games remaining. The top-five teams in the standings qualify for the upcoming Centennial Conference playoffs.
Sophomore guards
Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) and
Alex Kaslander (Verona, N.J./Verona) led the Bullets with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Junior forward
Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) added 11 points and eight rebounds while senior center
Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) also netted 11 points.
Cedric Moune posted 18 points and nine rebounds for F&M (20-4, 15-2 CC), which has clinched the top seed in the conference tournament. Brandon Federici added 17 points for the Diplomats while Matthew Tate notched 13 points and nine assists.
Franklin & Marshall outscored the Bullets 10-0 to start the game and continued to pull away throughout the half. The hosts' lead swelled to 22 with 5:59 on the clock when a Federici lay-up made it 33-11, but that's when Gettysburg embarked on its rally, outscoring the Diplomats 16-5 over the remainder of the half.
A put-back from sophomore forward
Cam Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) pulled his team to within single digits (36-27) with 46 seconds left in the half before Moune dropped in a lay-up 14 seconds later, giving F&M a 38-27 lead at halftime.
The Bullets fell behind 44-30 three and a half minutes into the second half before making a defensive stand to climb back into it again. The Bullets held the Dips to five points over the next 5:17 and reduced the deficit to five (45-40) with 11:22 left following a jumper from Kaslander.
Gettysburg would pull to within five on four more occasions, the last coming on a Kiefer lay-up that was goaltended by Moune, making it a 53-48 game with 7:47 to go. However, F&M would score the next five points to push its lead back into double figures, and the Bullets were unable to draw closer than seven the rest of the way.
The Orange and Blue return to action on Saturday, when they visit McDaniel College at 3 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.
