WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gettysburg ran off eight consecutive points, six by freshman guard Stephen Poarch (Middletown, Del./Sanford School), to take a 58-56 lead with 1:11 to play at Catholic University on Saturday, but the hosts rebounded with the final five points to earn a hard-fought non-conference victory.
Gettysburg (4-4) had four players reach double-figures, led by senior Andrew Powers (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) with 17. Poarch tossed in 13 and a season-high six assists, while senior Kevin Kennedy (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) and sophomore Alex Zurn (Brookeville, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) each put up 10 points. Jason Banzhaf and RJ Dixon each led Catholic (7-1) with 17 points apiece.
The Bullets trailed by as many as seven in the second period and the deficit stood at six (56-50) following a jumper by Banzhaf with 5:19 to play. Poarch started the comeback with a pair of free throws and following a jumper by Powers at 3:13, the freshman guard tacked on a lay-up at 1:49 to tie the score at 56-56. After a turnover by the Cardinals, Poarch gave the visitors a 58-56 edge with two more donations at the charity stripe.
Dixon missed a shot on Catholic's ensuing possession, but Banzhaf was there to clean up the mess and drew a foul on the putback. He canned his free throw to give the Cardinals a 59-58 lead with 47 seconds remaining in the game.
Zurn earned a trip to the line for Gettysburg with 27 seconds left, but the sophomore missed both attempts. After picking up the defensive rebound and a foul, Catholic sent Shawn Holmes to the line and he calmly knocked down both attempts to set the score at 61-58 with 20 seconds on the clock. The Cardinals' defense held firm in the final seconds, holding Gettysburg without a shot and forcing a turnover with four seconds left.
Catholic maintained a slight lead for the majority of the first half, but Gettysburg never let the hosts out of sight and pulled to one (27-26) on a three-pointer by Zurn just before the halftime buzzer.
Zurn hit another bucket to start the second half to give his team the lead and the teams traded blows until a 9-0 run by Catholic, including back-to-back treys by Dixon, set the score at 42-35 at 12:52. Despite repeated efforts by the Bullets, the Cardinals lead still stood at seven (51-44) with 8:50 left.
After equaling the host's 11-for-25 (44.0 percent) shooting effort in the first half, Gettysburg turned up the heat by hitting 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) shots in the final period. The Bullets shot 50 percent from the field (21-for-42) for the game, while Catholic finished at 44 percent (22-for-50). The Cardinals held a slight lead in rebounding 29-27 and canned seven three-pointers to the Bullets' three.
Powers finished 6-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line to lead the Bullets. He added seven rebounds and three assists. Poarch tallied nine of his points in the second half, while Kennedy finished 4-of-5 from the field, including 2-of-2 from deep to become the 10th player in school history with 100 made threes in his career.
Gettysburg will have the next 18 days off from competition to prepare for a two-day tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran University and featuring 10th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University and Hobart College. The Bullets will face Illinois Wesleyan on Dec. 29 at 8 p.m.