GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Five Bullets scored in double figures and the Gettysburg College men's basketball team earned its first Centennial Conference (CC) victory of the season with an 86-70 win over Washington College Saturday afternoon in Bream Gym.
 
Senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) paced the Bullets (2-4, 1-2 CC) with his fourth career double-double and his third of the season, posting 21 points and a career-high-tying 11 rebounds. He also tied a career-best with five assists and knocked down 13-of-15 free throws, with most coming down the stretch. He connected on 10 straight foul shots in the final 1:19, when Gettysburg salted its win by going 15-for-16 at the foul line.
 
Gettysburg's three-guard lineup combined for 45 points, with all three sophomore reaching double digits. Making his first start of the season, Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) poured in a career-high 19 points while Nick Lord (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) and Danny Duffey (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) contributed 16 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman center Avery Close (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) added a season-high 10 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
 
Josh Porteous and Barry McCormick netted 13 points each to lead Washington (2-5, 0-3 CC).
 
It was a back-and-forth affair in a tight first half that included seven ties and eight lead changes. An 8-2 Gettysburg run gave the hosts their biggest lead of the half at 24-17 after junior guard Alec Warren (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) drained a long 3-pointer with 7:19 left. However, the Shoremen answered with a 7-0 run to pull even with 5:35 on the clock.
 
Antolini knocked down a 3 to make it 27-24, but that would be the biggest lead for either team over the remainder of the half. A lay-up from Tas Dixon made it 38-36 with 16 seconds left, but England drilled a baseline buzzer-beater off an inbound pass from Duffey to deadlock the score at 38-all heading into the intermission.
 
Antolini led all players with 12 points at halftime. Washington went 7-for-12 from 3-point range in the opening period, when McCormick scored 11 points and shot 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
 
Gettysburg led for nearly the entire second half, but was unable to pull away until it reeled off a 9-0 run to open up an 11-point advantage with 4:25 left. Four different Bullets scored during the stretch, with Antolini capping the surge with a 3-pointer. For good measure, he drained his third and final triple with 3:11 to go that made it 71-58.
 
The Shoremen then began to foul but were unable to get closer than nine as the Bullets took care of business at the charity stripe.
 
 Gettysburg shot a season-high 51.9 percent from the field and connected on half of its 3-pointers, going 8-for-19 from long range.
 
The Bullets pick up their schedule on Wednesday, when they host Dickinson at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.