THE FACTS
Haverford (8-15, 6-10 CC) 70, Gettysburg (13-10, 10-6 CC) 67
What: Centennial Conference men's basketball game
When: Saturday, February 11
Where: Haverford, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
The Bullets led handily after the first half, but aggressive play and near perfect free throw shooting lifted Haverford over Gettysburg.
THE LEADERS
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Nate Williams (Morganville, N.J/St. John Vianney) was one of two Bullets to score 15 points, along with five rebounds and four assists.
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Jordan Stafford (Galloway, N.J./Saint Joseph Hammonton) also added 15 points.
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Carl Schaller (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) tallied 12 points, to go with four rebounds.
FOR THE FOES
•Nate Torres led the Fords with 18 points and seven assists.
THE REST OF THE STORY
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Elijah Williams (Washington, D.C./Sidwell Friends) dunked on the first possession of the game, but Josh Love was quick to counter with a layup at the other end and a trey within the first 90 seconds. Stafford came up two jumpers of his own to give the Bullets a 6-5 edge with 16:22 showing.
Nate Williams drained a three, but two free throws and a jumper by Love evened things up, 9-all.
Elijah Williams hit two at the line to give the Bullets an 11-9 lead, before a trey and three free throws by Nick Kerkorian gave the Fords a two-possession lead.
Nate Williams hit his second trey of the night to bring the Bullets back within one, but a Fords 6-4 run gave them a five-point lead with 9:38 left in the half.
Nate Williams drained yet another triple to bring the Bullets back within two, and two buckets by Harry Johnson sandwiched a
Jordan Stafford jumper.
Ryan McKeon (Landenberg, Pa./Sanford [Del.]) dunked the ball and
Antonello Baggi (Cremona, Italy/West Deptford [N.J.]) made a triple within three seconds of one another to put the Bullets back within one, and two layups by McKeon gave the Bullets a three-point advantage, at 32-29. With 5:50 left in the half, Gettysburg went on a 9-5 run, capped by a trey from
Carl Schaller, to lead, 41-34 going into the break. Three different Bullets scored within the stretch.
• The Fords claimed the first for points of the second half to cut the deficit to three, but Baggi knocked down another trey to bring the lead back to six. A 9-5 run for the Bullets gave them 10-point lead, with Stafford contributing four, Schaller three, and McKeon two. Nate Torres and Ryan Trotter began to chip away at the Bullets' lead, but two
Nate Williams free throws secured it at eight points. Three Fords buckets brought them within one possession at 8:45 left to play, before two Stafford free throws gave the Bullets a little breathing room. They were quickly followed with a triple by Love, and Schaller and Torres exchanged free throws to make it a 59-58 game. With just five minutes left to play, Torres made a layup to give the Fords their first lead of the second half. Torres sent Baggi to the line where he split, tying the game 60-all. A 5-2 run over the next two minutes gave the Fords a three-point lead, but two at the line by McKeon put the Bullets within one once again. Three free throws by Trotter made it a two-possession lead for the Fords, before an and-one play by Stafford once more put the Bullets within one, with only 32 seconds left to play. In the waning seconds, Torres made two more free throws and the Bullets failed to hit the buzzer-beater equalizer, falling 67-70 to Haverford.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg shot 41.4% from the field goal range, while Haverford hit 44.9%.
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Ryan McKeon finished with 10 points.
• The Bullets are now in a tie for third place in the conference standings. Seeds will be determined by the final week of conference play.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg will return to action against McDaniel on Wednesday. Game time is 8 p.m.
