THE FACTS
No. 13 Gettysburg (9-2) 80, DeSales (6-4) 78
What: Non-conference men's basketball game
When: Monday, Dec. 30
Where: Center Valley, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg, ranked 13th in the latest D3hoops.com poll, built a 12-point lead with 2:39 to play before watching DeSales rally to tie the game only to win the game 80-78 on a final-second bucket on the final day of the Al Senavitis Memorial Tournament.
THE LEADERS
•
Nate Williams (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney) led the Bullets with 22 points, hitting 8 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 6 from long range.
•
Jordan Stafford (Galloway, N.J./St. Joseph Hammonton) finished with 16 points that included the game-winning basket. He also had three assists.
FOR THE FOES
• Caleb Gibbs led the Bulldogs with 26 points to go with a pair of steals.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Behind a basket from each of the five starters, Gettysburg jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the game's first 3:13. A Brendan Boyle layup and four free throws closed the deficit to 12-9 before
Nate Williams stemmed the tide with a kickout 3-pointer to push the lead back to six with 13:24 on the clock.
Ray Zamloot (Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) and
Akim Joseph (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Notre Dame Fairfield [Conn.]) sandwiched a Luke Keppel triple with 3-pointers of their own to open up a 22-13 lead just over two minutes later. Caleb Gibbs capped a 13-5 stretch with a trey from the top of the arc that tied the game at 30-all with 3:23 showing. Gibbs then powered home a bucket for the hosts' first lead of the game at 34-32 with 1:58 remaining.
RJ Bennett (Hartford, Conn./Taft School), however, had the answer with the Bullets' eighth 3-pointer of the half to go back in front 35-34 and Williams added a jumper for a three-point halftime lead.
• After Gibbs gave DeSales a 42-41 edge with a single free throw after a technical foul with 15:50 to play, Joseph canned a 3-pointer to go back up 44-42 at the other end. Layups from Devin Atkinson and Ryan Glassmacher tied the game at 48-all with 10:40 to play but
Lorenzo Carrara (Norwood, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) pulled up at the other end to put the visitors back in front.
Jordan Stafford then extended the lead back to four with 9:01 remaining. After DeSales closed the margin to 55-52, Williams drained a jumper from the wing to start a 6-2 burst, opening up a seven-point lead and forcing a timeout with 6:27 showing. Five points from Stafford keyed a 7-0 stretch that gave Gettysburg its first double-digit lead of the game at 71-59 three minutes later. Atkinson halted the run and trimmed the margin back to nine on the ensuing Bulldog possession. Trailing 76-66, five points in just four seconds cut the deficit in half with 1:19 to play. Gibbs drove, turned and finished to make it a one-possession game with 25.1 seconds on the clock. Matt Ciszkowski scored off an intercepted pass in the backcourt to make it a 76-75 game with 19.6 seconds remaining. After Stafford hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 18.8 seconds on the clock, Thomas tied the game with a wing triple with 11.5 seconds. After a timeout, Stafford took the inbounds and drove all the way, pulling up from five feet and connecting with 0.9 seconds showing.
THE INSIDE STORY
• The Bullets matched their season high with 14 made 3-pointers, hitting double digits for the fifth time this season.
• DeSales went 20-for-27 from the free-throw line while Gettysburg was just 6 of 8.
•
Akim Joseph chipped in 15 points that included four triples to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
•
Aidan Mess (Brookeville, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) pulled down 11 rebounds to go with six points in just 15 minutes.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg returns to action at Stockton on Saturday. Game time is 2 p.m.
