Gettysburg held off a late comeback attempt by Ohio Northern to win its own Gettysburg Tipoff Tournament, 59-57, Saturday evening.
Jordan Stafford recorded 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks to lead the Bullets and claim tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Aidan Mess joined Stafford on the all-tournament team after a five-point, 11-rebound, five-block performance in the championship game. Carl Schaller netted 13 points to go with three assists.
Will Miller led Ohio Northern with 13 points. Jadi Cunningham Jr. added eight points, five rebounds, seven assists, and two blocks to claim an all-tournament team spot.
The Polar Bears started the second half on a 7-2 burst to draw even on a Theo Magg layup with 18:13 showing. Nate Williams and Lorenzo Carrara, however, hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to go back up six just a minute later. Another Williams jumper gave Gettysburg its largest lead at 40-32 with 16:33 on the clock. Ohio Northern, though, scored the next eight to tie the game two minutes later. Neither team led by more than four until Williams and Carl each hit on the drive for a 56-51 lead with 6:23 remaining. Two Jadi Cunningham free throws with 2:34 showing made it a 58-55 game. Magg hit a layup with 62 seconds to play to cut the margin to one. Off an inbounds with 6.2 seconds left, Mess recorded his fifth block of the game and then was fouled with 0.4 seconds left on the rebound to shoot a 1-and-1. He hit the first and then missed the second before the Polar Bears were awarded a timeout with 0.3 seconds showing. RJ Bennett swatted the homerun pass out of bounds to preserve the win.
An Akim Joseph free throw at 18:47 on the clock was the only point until Carl Schaller hit a wing triple at 16:12 on the clock. After buckets from Justin Chapman and Will Miller evened the score, Schaller drained another 3-pointer for a 7-4 edge with 14:50 showing. The Gettysburg lead grew to seven before eight straight Ohio Northern points gave the visitors a 15-14 advantage with 11:14 showing. Joseph responded with a 3-pointer to put the Bullets back in front. The game was then played within a five-point window until a Jordan Stafford driving layup in the waning seconds of the opening half for a 30-25 lead at the intermission.
Gettysburg returns to action at Mount Aloysius on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m.
This story first appeared on the Gettysburg College website.