THE FACTS
Gettysburg (17-9) 69, Franklin & Marshall (22-5) 45
What: Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball semifinals
When: Friday, Feb. 27
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Top-seeded Gettysburg led wire-to-wire, including by double digits for all but 23 seconds after halftime, to defeat fourth-seeded Franklin & Marshall 69-45 in the semifinals of the 2026 Centennial Conference men's basketball championship tournament.
THE LEADERS
•
Reece Craft (Downingtown, Pa./Devon Prep) led the Bullets with 17 points.
•
Josh Herr (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg Area) chipped in 16 points and six rebounds.
FOR THE FOES
• Steve Donahue was the only Diplomat to reach double figures with 11 points.
THE REST OF THE STORY
•
Ray Zamloot (Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) drained a triple on the game's opening possession and Gettysburg did not trail the rest of the way. Steve Donahue responded with a layup but an
Alex Grospe (South River, N.J./South River) steal-and-layup with 16:45 showing sparked a 12-0 run over the game's next 6:15 to open up a 15-2 lead. The Bullets defense held Franklin & Marshall to eight straight missed shots during the run. A Kevin Nowoswiat 3-pointer halted the cold streak with 10:16 on the clock. The first-half lead remained between eight and 12 points, including two
Reece Craft free throws and a
Josh Herr layup off an out-of-bounds play right before the first-half horn to close the half with four straight points and make it 27-15.
• A pair of buckets from Bohdan Biekietov in the opening 2:19 of the second half trimmed the deficit to 27-19 but Grospe canned a 3-pointer and Craft hit a layup to push the lead out to 13 nearly two minutes later. Holding a 52-38 lead, a Herr second-chance layup with 5:57 ignited a 14-0 game-clinching run that extended the lead to its largest at 66-38 with 2:57 to play.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg advanced to the conference championship game for the first time since 2010 and is seeking its first title since 2009.
•
Alex Grospe contributed 10 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals.
• Aiden Mess (Columbia, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) chipped in eight points, 13 rebounds and five assists.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg hosts second-seeded Johns Hopkins for the championship game on Sunday. Game time is 2 p.m.
