GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore guard Pete Christ tied a career-high with 22 points and the Gettysburg College men's basketball team outscored Muhlenberg College 46-29 in the second half en route to a 75-54 Centennial Conference victory Saturday afternoon in Bream Gymnasium.
The Bullets (8-5, 4-2 CC), playing their first home game since Dec. 10, shot a scorching 70.8 percent (17-of-24) in their big second stanza, which marked the team's highest-scoring period of the season. Gettysburg finished with its second-high scoring output of the year.
Christ, who scored his uniform number for the third time this season, shot 9-for-14 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
Sophomore forward Tanner Kirkpatrick added 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting for Gettysburg while senior guard Sean Gordon registered 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a career-high-tying four steals. He also moved into 10th in school history in career assists, pushing his total to 212.
Junior center Kevin Gladstone added 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots for the Bullets, who dished out a season-high 20 assists. Sophomore forward Cody Kiefer grabbed 10 rebounds.
Alec Stavetski shot 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 18 points to lead Muhlenberg (7-6, 2-4 CC).
The Mules led for most of the first half, though their advantage never exceeded six. The visitors led 18-14 with 7:13 left before the Bullets took the lead for good following an 8-0 run. Christ kicked off the spurt with a 3-pointer before Kirkpatrick added a conventional 3-point play. Kirkpatrick then capped the surge when he accepted a pass from Kiefer, slashed through the lane, and flushed a dunk to make it 22-18 with 4:49 on the clock.
Christ scored the final points of the half when he converted a lay-up to make it 29-25 with 1:20 showing.
An 8-2 Gettysburg run early in the second half pushed the hosts' lead to 12 (44-32) with 15:52 left after a fastbreak lay-up from Christ. Stavetski answered with a jumper 17 seconds later, but it would be Muhlenberg's last field goal for the next six minutes, when the Mules could manage only a pair of free throws spaced four minutes apart. In the meantime, the Bullets broke the game open with a 14-1 run, capped by a Gladstone lay-up that made it 58-36 with 9:35 remaining. Gettysburg shot 6-for-7 from the floor during the stretch, which included 3-pointers from Gordon and Christ.
The Bullets extended their lead to as much as 27 (65-38) with 6:30 left, and Muhlenberg was unable to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
MUHLENBERG (7-6, 2-4 CC)
Alec Stavetski 6-8 2-3 18; Brandon LaRose 5-10 1-4 12; Jon Schreer 3-8 0-0
9; Malique Killing 3-10 1-2 7; Sam McClellan 2-5 0-0 4; Nick Melosky 1-2 0-2
3; Nick Rindock 0-1 1-2 1; John Hunter 0-3 0-0 0; Alex Mitton 0-1 0-0 0;
Aidan Cole 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Miller 0-1 0-0 0; Drew Swedberg 0-0 0-0 0;
Michael Talbert 0-1 0-0 0; Owen McLeod 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 5-13 54.
GETTYSBURG (8-5, 4-2 CC)
Pete Christ 9-14 0-0 22; Tanner Kirkpatrick 7-9 1-1 16; Sean Gordon 4-11 2-2
13; Kevin Gladstone 4-7 4-4 12; Cody Kiefer 1-5 4-6 6; Uri Rahimi 1-1 0-0 2;
Rahmi Halaby 1-3 0-0 2; Matt England 1-2 0-0 2; Mlynue Reeves 0-1 0-0 0;
Brent Slotoroff 0-0 0-0 0; Alex Kaslander 0-0 0-0 0; Joe Emerusabe 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 28-53 11-13 75.
Muhlenberg.................... 25 29 - 54
Gettysburg.................... 29 46 - 75
3-point goals--Muhlenberg 9-20 (Alec Stavetski 4-4; Jon Schreer 3-8; Brandon
LaRose 1-2; Nick Melosky 1-1; Kevin Miller 0-1; Owen McLeod 0-1; Nick
Rindock 0-1; Malique Killing 0-2), Gettysburg 8-15 (Pete Christ 4-5; Sean
Gordon 3-6; Tanner Kirkpatrick 1-2; Cody Kiefer 0-2). Fouled
out--Muhlenberg-None, Gettysburg-None. Rebounds--Muhlenberg 22 (Jon Schreer
4; Sam McClellan 4), Gettysburg 38 (Cody Kiefer 10). Assists--Muhlenberg 12
(John Hunter 3; Brandon LaRose 3), Gettysburg 20 (Kevin Gladstone 6). Total
fouls--Muhlenberg 13, Gettysburg 9. Technical fouls--Muhlenberg-None,
Gettysburg-None. A-171