WESTMINSTER, Md. – Gettysburg whittled a 14-point deficit down to three, but the comeback ran out of time as McDaniel held off the Bullets 50-46 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Wednesday evening in the Gill Center.
 
The Bullets (4-12, 2-7 CC) tied their top defensive performance of the season in terms of points allowed, as they also held Alvernia to 50 points in a victory on Dec. 30.
 
Senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) registered his fourth double-double of the season to lead Gettysburg, posting 10 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) scored a game-high 13 points for the Bullets while senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) added 10 points and five assists.
 
Stephen Lang paced McDaniel (3-12, 1-8 CC) with 12 points while shooting 4-for-5 from 3-point range. DJ Harper netted 10 points for the Green Terror.
 
McDaniel led 37-23 with 16:32 left before the Bullets began to chip away. Stewart scored the first four points of a 6-0 run that pulled his team back to within single digits (37-29) with 14:10 remaining, and another 6-0 spurt trimmed the deficit to six (43-37) with 6:44 to go. Junior center Luke Cooper (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) scored four points during the second surge, when Gettysburg held the Terror scoreless for over four minutes.
 
Gettysburg again trailed by only six when Stewart backed in for a lay-up with 1:26 left. After Austin Cannon hit a big jumper for McDaniel at the other end, Antolini knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game with 41 ticks showing to make it 49-44. The Bullets were then forced to foul, and McDaniel missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on three straight possessions. But the Orange and Blue were unable to capitalize on the first two, missing a 3-pointer that could of cut the lead to two before committing a turnover. England drove end-to-end for a lay-up with eight seconds left that cut it to three, but Andy Kwiatkowski sealed the victory for the hosts when he made the first of two foul shots two seconds later.
 
The first half featured four ties and two lead changes. McDaniel outscored the Bullets 8-2 to start the night, but England scored eight straight points for Gettysburg to make it a 10-10 game with 14:45 to go in the opening period.
 
The Bullets took their first lead on a lay-up from freshman forward Anthony Shepperd (King of Prussia, Pa./Upper Merion) with 13:29 on the clock, and Gettysburg led 17-14 after an Antolini lay-in with 8:05 remaining. However, McDaniel would outscore Gettysburg 15-4 over the remainder of the half and led 29-21 at the intermission.
 
Lang hit his first two 3-pointers during his team's run to end the first half, then connected on two more 3-balls to cap an 8-0 run early in the second period to hand McDaniel its 14-point advantage.
 
Gettysburg continues its five-game stretch away from home when it visits Centennial Conference foe Washington College on Saturday at 1 p.m.