After trailing by eight-points at intermission, Gettysburg College (10-7, 4-6 CC) rallied its way back in the second half, but a strong shooting performance propelled Muhlenberg College (13-4, 6-4 CC) to take the Centennial Conference men’s basketball contest, 71-55.
Top Performers – Gettysburg
– Nick Antolini ’20 (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) – 14 points, 4 rebounds
– Nick Lord ’20 (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) – 12 points, 4-of-9 3FG, 5 rebounds
– Alex Leder ’21 (Bethesda, Md./Bullis) – 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
– Danny Duffey ’20 (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) – 5 assists
Top Performers – Muhlenberg
– Dallas Hoffman – 18 points, 4-of-9 3FG, 3 rebounds
– Michael Morreale – 11 points, 3-of-6 3FG, 5 rebounds
– Dan Gaines – 10 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds
– Matt Gnias – 10 points, 5 assists
– Nate Henty Brown – 10 points, 11 rebounds
How It Happened…
- First Half
- The Bullets bounced to a 9-4 lead as Antolini accumulated five with Leder adding four with 17:17 on the clock.
- The Mules answered back by fueling a 14-3 stretch to pull ahead by six midway through the first half.
- Gettysburg sliced the Mules advantage down to one after reeling off a 7-2 run with Close scoring five, including knocking down a trey that brought the Bullets within one.
- The Bullets creeped within one-point on two other occasions in the final five minutes, but the Mules closed the first half by going on a 8-2 spurt, which included two three’s, to head into intermission ahead 38-30.
- Second Half
- Gettysburg came within one-point, once again, after opening the half with a 9-2 spurt that included draining two three-pointers.
- Lord cashed in from downtown as he made back-to-back three’s and Leder put in a lay-up to put the Bullets back in front by three (47-44) with 13:47 on the clock.
- The next several minutes resulted in a bucket exchange, as the lead never exceeded more than three points, until the 7:19 marker.
- Back-to-back three-pointers from the Mules sparked a 10-0 run to increase the lead by 16 with 1:28 to go. The Bullets had some great looks from long-range, but the shots weren’t falling for the Orange and Blue.
By the Numbers
- The Mules made 25-of-54 (46.3 percent) from the field, 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the free throw line, and knocked down 10 three-pointers, while Gettysburg went 19-of-58 (32.8 percent) from the floor, 9-of-12 (75 percent) from the charity stripe, and drained eight trey’s.
- Muhlenberg held the 38-29 advantage in rebounds.
- Muhlenberg, who is third in the conference in steals per game, were limited to just two.
- Junior Avery Close (Phoenixville, Pa./Phoenixville) notched a season-high three steals.
Where the Series Stands
With Muhlenberg winning today, it ties the all-time series at 80 apiece. The Bullets swept the Mules last season for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Next Up
Gettysburg plays at Franklin & Marshall College on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 8 p.m.
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.