GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Swarthmore outscored Gettysburg 51-38 in the second half and the 11th-ranked Garnet pulled away after a close first period, downing the Bullets 78-64 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Saturday afternoon in Bream Gym.
 
The two sides were tied 33-33 with 16:53 remaining in the game, but that's when Swarthmore went on a 13-2 run to break it open.
 
Sophomore guard Nick Lord (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) scored a season-high 18 points to lead the Bullets (5-14, 3-9 CC). He shot 4-for-9 from 3-point range and had a hot hand early, draining all four of his triples in the opening eight minutes.
 
Senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) contributed 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting for Gettysburg while senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) posted nine points, a career-high seven assists, and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Danny Duffey (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) added six assists for the Bullets, who finished with 20 assists versus just six turnovers, including none in the second half.
 
Cam Wiley scored 17 points to lead Swarthmore (17-2, 11-1 CC), which shot 13-for-23 from 3-point range, while Zack Yonda and Conor Harkins added 16 points apiece. Harkins shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc while Wiley was 3-for-5 from long range.
 
Lord carried the Bullets early, knocking down four of his first five 3-point attempts, with his last one handing his team a 15-12 lead with 12:16 on the clock. Junior center Luke Cooper (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) hit a pair of free throws to put Gettysburg up 19-16 with 9:40 left in the opening half, but that's when both teams went cold offensively, as neither team would score for the next 3:18. Abass Sallah ended the drought when he hit a 3-pointer to pull the Garnet even with 6:22 showing.
 
A jumper from Stewart put the Bullets back on top with 5:19 remaining in the half, but Swarthmore scored the next five points to take the lead for good. However, Gettysburg held the Garnet scoreless over the final 3:11 of the period, and an England free throw with five-tenths of a second on the clock pulled the Bullets within a point (27-26) at the intermission.
 
Lord led all players with 14 points in the opening stanza.
 
A 3-pointer from Duffey made it 33-all before Swarthmore went on its decisive run, capped by a lay-up from Robbie Walsh that made it 46-35 with 12:36 to go, prompting a Gettysburg timeout. The Bullets responded by scoring the next four points on a foul shot from Cooper and a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) that made it 46-39, but the Garnet answered with a 5-0 spurt.
 
Back-to-back buckets from Stewart and Antolini made it 51-43 with 9:17 remaining, but that's as close as the Bullets would get the rest of the way, as Swarthmore responded by hitting a 3-pointer on its next three possessions to push its advantage to 13.
A pair of free throws from Duffey made it 73-64 with 52 seconds left, and the Bullets then committed four-straight fouls to put Swarthmore in the bonus. Yonda settled any doubt when he hit two free throws with 40 ticks showing.
 
Gettysburg returns home on Wednesday, when it takes on Johns Hopkins at 8 p.m. in another Centennial Conference affair.