ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Gettysburg erased an 11-point second-half deficit, but host Muhlenberg pulled away down the stretch to hand the Bullets a 74-67 setback in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Thursday evening.
 
The Bullets (4-10, 2-5 CC) trailed 45-34 with 14:23 left, but stormed back with a 14-2 run to assume a 48-47 edge with 10:43 to go. But the Mules answered with a 13-4 surge of their own, and Gettysburg was unable to get closer than four the rest of the way.
 
Junior center Luke Cooper (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) led the Orange and Blue with 17 points while senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) posted nine points and a career-high 16 rebounds. He became the second Bullet to collect 16 boards this season along with Cooper in a win over Alvernia on Dec. 30, marking the most rebounds by a Bullet in over four years.
 
Sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) contributed 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists for Gettysburg while sophomore guard Nick Lord (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) contributed 10 points off the bench.

 Matt Gnias scored 22 points to pace the Mules (6-7, 4-3 CC) while Nick Rindock added 16 points.
 
England buried a 3-pointer on the game's opening possession, but the Bullets would lead just twice throughout the rest of the half. After Muhlenberg led by as much as four, Gettysburg came back to take a 16-15 lead after a lay-up from senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) with 9:30 to go. But the Mules would lead the rest of the half following an 11-3 run that made it 26-19 with 5:22 showing. The hosts would close the period on a 7-2 spurt to open up a 35-26 lead at the half.
 
England scored all of his points and grabbed 11 boards in the first half.
 
Muhlenberg led by 11 on four occasions early in the second stanza before the Bullets embarked on their rally. Cooper fueled the run with seven points before sophomore guard Harrison Rottman (New York, N.Y./Eleanor Roosevelt) drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to put the Bullets up 48-47 with 10:43 on the clock. However, the Mules came right back with a 10-2 run of their own, taking the lead for good.
 
Gettysburg used a late 6-2 run to draw to within four, as back-to-back buckets from Antolini and Cooper made it 64-58 with 3:10 left. But the Mules scored on their next three possessions to go up 70-60 with 1:39 remaining and went 4-for-7 at the foul line the rest of the way.
 
The Bullets complete their three-game week on Sunday, when they take on Ursinus at 1:30 p.m. in the second game of the inaugural "Centennial Conference at the Palestra" in Philadelphia. Gettysburg's women's basketball team will kick off the day's events at 11:30 a.m., also taking on Ursinus. After the Gettysburg-Ursinus men's game, three additional Centennial Conference games will take place in the Palestra, one of the most famous athletic venues in the United States.