Gettysburg led Salisbury by five at halftime, but the Sea Gulls outscored the Bullets by 11 in the second half to make up the difference and finish with an 80-74 men’s basketball victory Saturday night at Salisbury.
Akim Joseph led the Bullets with 19 points, six rebounds, and three steals, while Carl Schaller finished with 16 points, five steals, and three assists. Jordan Stafford was the final Bullet in double digits with 10 points and three rebounds.
Cameron Heard and Jordan Oates put up 26 and 25 points, respectively, for Salisbury.
Stafford and Joseph combined for six straight points to start the game and the Bullets prevented Salisbury from scoring for almost the first three minutes. Ryan McKeon and Stafford then combined for six points to yield a Gettysburg 12-2 advantage just under five minutes into the game. Salisbury responded with a 12-3 run to bring the deficit down to three points, and Oates’s 3-pointer tied things up for the first time with 11 minutes left in the first half. Buddah Spencer pulled up to give the Sea Gulls their first lead of the game. Max Pernetti laid one in to tie the score again, and the lead changed hands several times before another tie at 27-all with 4:24 showing in the first half. Three-pointers by Antonello Baggi and Joseph bookended two Carl Schaller free throws for Gettysburg to lead 35-30 after the first half.
Heard then made two buckets in the first minute of the second half, and Brendon Davis knocked down two at the line to tie the game just under two minutes in. Heard and McKeon traded points to a 40-all tie before Oates converted an and-one play that sparked a 6-1 Sea Gulls run to notch their largest lead to that point, 49-41. McKeon, Stafford, and Baggi put together seven points to close within five with 12:06 left to play. Reed Rebstock sunk two at the charity stripe to kick off a 4-1 Salisbury run to make it a nine-point game with under ten minutes left. A 3-pointer by Schaller and dunk and layup by Aidan Mess helped bring the score back within two points, 60-58, to put pressure on the Sea Gulls, but they responded with a narrow 9-7 scoring run to make it a two-possession game with under five minutes left. Gettysburg got as close as one point two times in the final two minutes but missed crucial shots in the final ticks to seal the 80-74 Salisbury win.
Gettysburg shot 50% from the field goal range, while Salisbury hit 47.7%. However, Salisbury made 21 of 31 free throws to the Bullets’ 13 of 23.
Gettysburg won’t return to action until December 29th for the Stevens Holiday Tournament. The Bullets will face WPI at 5 p.m.
This original version of this story appeared on the Gettysburg College website.