THE FACTS
Gettysburg (8-4, 4-1 CC) 74, Swarthmore (7-5, 4-1 CC) 51
What: Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball game
When: Saturday, January 6
Where: Swarthmore, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Jordan Stafford (Galloway, N.J./Saint Joseph Hammonton) put up 18 of 38 Gettysburg's first-half points to carve out a 13-point lead after the first stanza, and the defense and offense worked in lockstep to nearly replicate the opening 20 minutes in the final period en route to a 74-51 final score at Swarthmore.
THE LEADERS
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Jordan Stafford contributed almost a third of Gettysburg's points, putting down a career-high 23 points, going 8 of 12 from the field and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line.
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Akim Joseph (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Notre Dame Fairfield [Conn.]) was the second Bullet to put up double-digit points, scoring 16, including going 4 of 4 at the line.
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Aidan Mess (Brookeville, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) was one rebound shy of a double-double, with 10 points and nine boards.
FOR THE FOES
• Michael Caprise led the Garnet with 27 points.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Balanced shooting by both teams led to a 9-8 Gettysburg lead after almost seven minutes, before a Stafford layup sparked a 2 minute, 20 second 12-2 run to give the Bullets a 21-10 lead and force a Swarthmore timeout. Out of the break, Swarthmore closed within eight points twice, but was answered by Bullet baskets each time to push the lead back to 10. Six Gettysburg points in the final two minutes of the half yielded a 13-point Bullets lead going into the locker rooms.
• Michael Caprise and Aiden Mess traded layups in the first two minutes of the second half, but Caprise added two more to close the deficit within 11. Caprise laid another basket in to spark a 7-3 Garnet run to close within 11 points once more, but two at the line by
Akim Joseph and
Ryan McKeon (Landenberg, Pa./Sanford [Del.]) pushed it back to 15 with 9:09 showing. The Bullets continued to shoot past the Garnet, who wouldn't get closer than 11 the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by
Nate Williams (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney) made it a 20-point lead for the Bullets with 2:13 left, who finished with a 74-51 victory.
THE INSIDE STORY
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Ryan McKeon scored eight points and grabbed five boards.
• The Bullets shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half while holding the Garnet to 39 percent.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg returns to action at home against Haverford on Tuesday. Game time is 8 p.m.
