Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior center Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) erupted for a career-high 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Gettysburg College men's basketball team pulled away midway through the second half to beat McDaniel College 68-56 in the first-round game of the Centennial Conference (CC) Tournament Wednesday evening in Bream Gym.
 
The fourth-seeded Bullets (18-8) will visit top-seeded and 25th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College on Friday at 8 p.m. The winner of the game moves on to the conference championship game to take on the winner of the other first-round game between second-seeded Swarthmore College and third-seeded Dickinson College on Saturday at 7 p.m. back at F&M.
 
Gladstone's 33 points were a CC first-round record – three more than the previous mark set by Greg Adams of Washington College versus Ursinus College in 1999. He shot 11-for-16 from the field and 10-for-12 at the foul line, bettering his former career high of 31 points scored against Haverford College during his junior season. He scored 20 points in the second half, when he shot 6-for-8 and 7-for-8 at the foul line.
 
Gladstone, who posted his third career double-double, was the only Bullet to score in double figures. Sophomore guard Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) added nine points, four rebounds, and five assists while junior forward Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) added eight points and six rebounds.
 
Josh McWilliams led the Green Terror (14-12) with 15 points while Wes Brooks added 14 points.
 
McDaniel led 47-41 with 10:14 left following a McWilliams jumper, but that's when the Bullets broke it open with a 14-0 run. England kicked off the stretch with a conventional 3-point play, and junior forward Cody Kiefer (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) put his team in front for good (48-47) with a pair of free throws at the 8:29 mark. Junior guard Pete Christ (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley Regional) kept it going with an acrobatic tip-in to make it 50-47, and Gladstone hit 1-of-2 free throws with 4:57 left to make it 55-47.
 
Nicholas Perugino snapped a 5:26 scoring drought for McDaniel when he hit a pair of free throws to make it 55-49 with 4:48 left, but Gladstone went on to score six straight points as Gettysburg put the game out of reach. He hit four straight free throws to give the Bullets a 61-49 lead with 3:22 remaining, and McDaniel was unable to get closer than nine the rest of the way.
 
The Green Terror scored the first five points of the game, but Gettysburg came back with a 6-0 spurt to take its first lead of the night on a Kiefer jumper. McDaniel led 10-6 with 14:56 left in the first half, but that's when the Bullets made a defensive stand, holding the Terror scoreless over a 5:50 stretch. In the meantime, the hosts ran off an 8-0 run to go up 14-10 with 10:19 showing.
 
Gettysburg led by as much as seven in the first half, when Gladstone converted a conventional 3-point play with 4:26 left to make it 25-18. However, McDaniel used a 6-0 surge to cut the deficit to one. A Gladstone lay-in with 48 second left made it a 30-27 game at the break.
 
A pair of Gladstone foul shots put the Bullets up 39-33 with 15:33 to go, but McDaniel climbed back into it with a 7-0 run. A second 7-0 spurt gave the visitors their 47-41 lead before Gettysburg's decisive run.