THE FACTS
No. 4 Mount Union (10-1) 82, Gettysburg (4-5) 61
What: Non-conference men's basketball game
When: Thursday, Dec. 29
Where: Daytona Beach, Fla.
THE SKINNY STORY
Mount Union, ranked fourth in the latest D3hoops.com poll, closed the first half on a 12-0 run to turn a 32-all tie into a 44-32 lead over Gettysburg and carried that momentum into the second half for an 82-61 victory at the Florida Sunshine Shootout.
THE LEADERS
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Carl Schaller (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) led the Bullets with 12 points and six rebounds. He also added three assists and two steals.
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Rassoul Abakar (Cameroon/Notre Dame Fairfield [Conn.]) also chipped in 12 points and six rebounds.
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Ryan McKeon (Landenberg, Pa./Sanford [Del.]) went 5-for-8 from the floor to finish with 11 points.
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Jordan Stafford (Galloway, N.J./Saint Joseph Hammonton) rounded out a quartet of double-digit scorers with 10 points. He also grabbed five rebounds.
FOR THE FOES
• Christian Parker led the Purple Raiders with 16 points and nine rebounds.
• Jeffrey Mansfield contributed 14 points and nine rebounds.
• Collen Gurley added 14 points and four assists.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Behind baskets from three different players, Gettysburg jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game's first 2:18 before three different Mount Union players connected from the floor to tie the game just 68 seconds later. The teams traded points over the next eight minutes with neither team leading by more than three points until seven straight from the Purple Raiders made it a 30-26 game with 6:59 remaining. A
Ryan McKeon free throw and
Carl Schaller three-point play tied the game at 30-all just 1:10 later. After two Christian Parker free throws put Mount Union back in front, Schaller hit another layup to tie the game for the final time with 4:24 showing. Six points from Collen Gurley keyed the 12-0 finish to the half for the Raiders, leading to a 44-32 advantage at the break.
• An
Antonello Baggi (Cremona, Italy/West Deptford [N.J.]) 3-pointer with 14:55 on the clock in the second half capped a 7-0 burst in just 37 seconds to close the Bullets to within 52-44. However, Mount Union responded with eight in a row to stretch the lead to 16 with 12:00 to play.
Rassoul Abakar drained a triple with 10:25 showing to make it 61-48 but that's as close as Gettysburg would get the rest of the way. A 10-3 Purple Raider stretch after that pushed the lead above 20 for the first time in the final seven minutes of the contest.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Mount Union finished with a 45-44 edge in rebounding and held the Bullets to 35.4 percent shooting for the game, including just 9 of 33 in the second half.
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Antonello Baggi canned three 3-pointers to finish with nine points. He converted three of Gettysburg's four treys for the game. As a team, the Bullets were 4-for-24 from long range.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg concludes its trip to the Florida Sunshine Shootout against Bates on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.
