Gettysburg jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never trailed in the game but was able to hold off multiple second-half charges from Ursinus for a 59-50 men’s basketball win Saturday night at Bream Gym.
Carl Schaller led the Bullets with 20 points, six rebounds, and three steals, while Jordan Stafford added 12 points and four steals.
Carl Schaller (Garnet Valley, PA) keyed Gettysburg’s win Saturday with 20 points.
Schaller scored eight of the game’s first 10 points to build the early advantage and force a timeout 4:18 into the game. Ursinus hit its first field goal of the game with a Nick Nocito deep bank 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to make it a 10-6 game with 12:34 to play. A pair of Ryan McKeon turnaround jumpers stretched the lead to 14-6 with 8:53 to play. The lead swelled to 20-6 just 92 seconds later, but Mohamed Toure halted a 1-for-18 shooting start by the Bears with a triple at the 7:21 mark. Four points from Trevor Wall closed the deficit to 20-16 before Jordan Stafford halted a 4-minute, 48-second drought with a pull-up jumper. Ursinus cut the margin in half with a three-point play before five straight from Stafford extended the lead back to eight en route to a 29-22 halftime lead.
Neither team scored for the first 3:15 of the second half before Nocito broke the cap with a layup. Gettysburg eventually stretched the lead by two nine on a Schaller jumper that made it 38-29 with 11:15 to play. Ursinus, however, scored seven of the next nine points to once again close to within four. The teams traded buckets until Notico hit back-to-back deep triples around a Nate Williams layup to make it a 46-44 game with 5:55 remaining. The lead remained between two and five points until Stafford was able to force a shot to go with just three ticks on the shot clock and 18.4 seconds remaining, drawing a foul in the process that – after review – was upgraded to a Flagrant 1. Stafford converted the free throw to make it a 56-50 game, and the Bullets retained possession. Williams then hit the first of two free throws to make it a seven-point lead. After a missed trey, Williams connected on a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
Nick Nocito led Ursinus with 17 points, including a pair of deep 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to keep it a one-possession game.
Gettysburg returns to action at McDaniel on Wednesday. Game time is 8 p.m.
This story originally appeared on the Gettysburg College website.