GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Catholic scored the game's final seven points, wiping out a late six-point deficit to edge the Gettysburg College men's basketball team 72-71 in an entertaining non-conference battle Sunday afternoon in Bream Gym.
 
The back-and-forth contest featured 14 ties and 17 lead changes, and neither side led by more than six the entire game.
 
Sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) scored a career-high 24 points for the Bullets (2-6), who have lost three games by five points or less this season. Antolini shot 9-for-16 and 4-for-9 from 3-point range.
 
Jay Howard, a D3hoops.com Preseason All-American, led Catholic (4-5) with 26 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 22 seconds left.
 
Gettysburg led 71-65 with 1:31 remaining on a driving lay-up from junior center Luke Cooper (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) before the Cardinals embarked on their game-ending run. Brandon Easton kicked it off with 3-pointer from the left corner, then came up with a steal at halfcourt before coasting in for a lay-up to make it 71-70 with 56 seconds to go.
 
After Gettysburg missed a shot, Andre Mitchell found Howard underneath for a lay-up, and the Bullets called timeout with 8.5 ticks showing. Antolini missed a fadeaway jumper from the left baseline but senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) gathered the rebound and was fouled on the put-back as the buzzer sounded. After the officials put three-tenths of a second on the clock, Stewart missed both free throws, and Mitchell rebounded to secure the win.
 
Sophomore guard Nick Lord (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) added 13 points for the Bullets while Cooper contributed 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Stewart, making his first start of the season and playing in just his second game after returning from an injury, finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
 
The Bullets shot over 50 percent from the field for the third game in a row, finishing at 56.3 percent. Gettysburg out-rebounded the Cardinals 32-25.
 
Catholic led for most of the first half, though neither side led by more than five for the entire period. Antolini drained three-straight 3-pointers early in the stanza to give the Bullets their largest lead of the half at 20-16 with 14:03 on the clock. However, the Cardinals scored the next six points, and the visitors would not trail again until late in the half.
 
A 3-pointer from Mitchell with 8:12 to go put Catholic up 29-24, but a 9-3 Gettysburg run, capped by a pair of Cooper free throws, gave the Bullets a 33-32 lead with 2:30 remaining. But the Cardinals responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and the visitors led 38-35 at the half.
 
Antolini led all players with 15 points at the break while Howard paced Catholic with 11 points.
 
Howard scored on the opening possession of the second half, but that's when the Bullets used a 7-0 spurt to assume a 42-40 lead with 17:33 left. Gettysburg would the lead until an Andrew Wade lay-up with 5:56 left put Catholic up 59-58, setting up a nerve-racking finish that included one tie and six lead changes.
 
Antolini knocked down a jumper with 4:07 left to make it 62-61, then canned a triple with 3:30 showing to put the Bullets ahead 65-63. Stewart restored Gettysburg's four-point advantage with a lay-in at the 2:41 mark before Cooper scored consecutive buckets, the second of which gave the Bullets their late six-point advantage.
 
Gettysburg is off until Dec. 29-30, when it travels to the DeSales University for the Al Senavitis Memorial Tournament. The Bullets take on DeSales at 6 p.m. on Dec. 29 before playing Alvernia or Drew at 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Dec. 30.