LEXINGTON, Va. – The Gettysburg College men's basketball team bounced back into the win column after an explosive offensive day to claim the 81-70 non-conference matchup against St. Mary's College of Maryland at the Washington & Lee Holiday Tournament held inside the Duchossois Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.  
 
Gettysburg improves to 7-2 on the season, while St. Mary's drops to a 3-9 record.

Top Performers - Gettysburg
- Alex Leder '21 (Bethesda, Md./Bullis) – 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
- Nick Antolini '20 (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) – 20 points, 13 rebounds
- Nick Lord '20 (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) – 14 points, 4-7 3FG
- Avery Close '21 (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) – 10 points, 4-5 FG
 
Top Performers – St. Mary's
- Miles Gillette – 19 points
- Jalen Hayes – 17 points, 6-11 FG
- Gary Grant – 16 points
 
How It Happened…

• First Half
  • After falling in back-to-back games against top 15 Division III teams, the Bullets opened their first game in 22 days on a 10-4 run with senior Danny Duffey (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) starting the stanza with a three-pointer.
  • The Seahawks responded a few minutes later by reeling a 13-2 run with Miles Gillette netting 11 to grab the one-point advantage with 13:06 on the clock.
  • The next few possessions resulted in back-in-forth lead changes until an 8-3 spurt pushed St. Mary's to a 30-24 lead with under 6:30 remaining.
  • Antolini burst on to an offensive flow at the right time for the Bullets as he scored seven of the final 11 points, including a trey in the waning seconds, to lift Gettysburg to a 35-32 lead heading into halftime.
  • The Orange and Blue drained 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) from three-point land.
• Second Half
  • The Bullets held a 42-36 advantage four minutes into the final half with freshman Elijah Williams (Washington, D.C./Sidwell Friends) connecting on a trey and Antolini scoring four points.
  • Gary Grant tallied four straight points to cut the Gettysburg lead down to two, 47-45, with 13:12 remaining.
  • Gettysburg answered by Leder scoring five points and Lord making a trey to push the Bullets to the most significant lead up to that point in the game at 55-47.
  • A three-pointer by Jalen Hayes made it a six-point game with 8:15 showing, but that would be as close as the Seahawks came the rest of the way. Leder knocked down a trey to make it the largest lead of the game at 14 (74-60) with 4:37 to go. Leder led the offensive charge with his hot-shooting performance for the Bullets as posted 18 of his 21 points in the final half. Antolini also contributed on the offensive end, netting 13 for the Orange and Blue.

By the Numbers

• Gettysburg, who is currently third in the Centennial Conference in field goal percentage, finished the game 30-of-67 (44.8 percent) from the floor, 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from beyond the arc, and 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line.
• The Bullets pulled down 45 rebounds to the Seahawks 39.
• For the third time this season, the Bullets shot 50 percent or better from three-point territory. The 14 made three's also ties for second-best in program history. The team has also knocked down 10 or more three's in six games.
• The Seahawks went 27-of-71 (38 percent) from the field, made seven three's, and shot 9-of-18 (50 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Leder scored the most points in a Bullets uniform with 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep, which is also a season-high for the junior transfer. He has tallied double-figure scoring in eight of the nine games.
• Antolini notched his first double-double of the season with his 13 rebounds being a season-high.
• Leder, Antolini, and Duffey all shot 50 percent or better from three-point land.

Where the Series Stands
Today's match-up was the third between St. Mary's and Gettysburg in the all-time series. SMCM won the first meeting 84-79 during the 1988-89 season, and the Bullets claimed the second 81-67 the next campaign.

Next Up
Gettysburg will play against the tournament hosts, Washington and Lee University on Monday at 2 p.m.