GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior center Andrew Powers made his final home game one to remember, posting 26 points and nine rebounds to lead the Gettysburg College men's basketball team into the Centennial Conference playoffs with a 66-54 victory over McDaniel College Saturday afternoon in Bream Gymnasium on Senior Day.

Not only did the Bullets (14-11, 11-7 CC), who won their third game in a row, clinch their 11th straight Centennial Conference playoff berth, but they also secured a first-round bye. Gettysburg will finish third in the Centennial Conference standings and take on Dickinson College in the conference semifinals next Saturday at tournament host Franklin & Marshall College at a time to be announced.

Powers, Gettysburg's career scoring leader, posted his seventh 25-point game of the season and moved into a tie with Dennis Stanton of Ursinus College for second on the Centennial Conference career scoring list. Stanton scored 1,930 points from 2000-04.

Gettysburg led from start to finish, outscoring McDaniel 18-2 to start the game. The Bullets led by as much as 20, only to have the Green Terror (13-12, 10-8 CC) pull to within eight on two occasions late in the game. But Gettysburg went 7-for-10 at the foul line in the final 2:16 to hold on for the win.

Devon Lesniak paced McDaniel with 18 points, shooting 5-for-12 from beyond the arc. Louis Sarris-Grau added 14 points for the Green Terror.

Junior guard Brendan Trelease added 11 points and shot 3-for-4 from 3-point range for the Bullets while sophomore forward Ben Constable made his presence felt off the bench once again, notching five points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.

Powers did much of his damage in the early going, and he pumped in 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the opening half. He scored 15 of those points in the first 10 minutes, and his second 3-pointer of the game – just his fifth of the season – gave the Bullets a 20-point advantage at 24-4.

Senior guard Paul Crone restored the Bullets 20-point advantage when he drained a trey with seven seconds left in the half before Lesniak sunk a 30-footer as time expired to make it a 35-18 game at halftime.

McDaniel chipped away slowly in the second half, and after trailing by as much as 19 midway through the period, the Terror cut the deficit to 11 (56-45) with 5:06 remaining after a pair of Christopher Cowles free throws. Evan Pupelis brought the visitors to within single digits (57-49) with a lay-up at the 3:25 mark, and his two foul shots with 2:40 to go made it 59-51. Sophomore guard Derek Brooks answered with a pair of free throws with 2:16 remaining, and McDaniel missed its final five of its last six field-goal attempts, including four 3-pointers.

Gettysburg held the Terror to 33.3 percent shooting while 51.3 percent. It was the 11th time this season that the Bullets held an opponent to under 60 points this season.

Notes: Not only were Gettysburg's four seniors honored before the game, but two presentations were also held to recognized a pair of milestones for the Bullets this season...Head Coach George Petrie was honored for reaching 300 career victories in November, becoming just the second coach in program history to reach the milestone...Powers was also recognized for breaking the Gettysburg career scoring mark and was presented a commemorative ball by Lucy Warner, the widow of former record holder Ron Warner, who scored 1,880 points in three seasons from 1959-62.

MCDANIEL (13-12, 10-8 CC)
Devon Lesniak 6-16 1-2 18; Louis Sarris-Grau 5-8 4-7 14; Cullen Murray-Kemp
2-6 3-4 7; Christopher Cowles 1-4 2-2 5; Tyler Rudd 1-4 2-2 4; Evan Pupelis
1-2 2-2 4; James Cranwell 0-1 2-2 2; Marcus Dyson 0-0 0-0 0; Josh Smith 0-0
0-0 0; Michael Jarboe 0-7 0-0 0; Mitch Belella 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 16-21
54.
GETTYSBURG (14-11, 11-7 CC)
Andrew Powers 9-15 6-9 26; Brendan Trelease 3-4 2-2 11; Derek Brooks 3-4 3-4
9; Ben Constable 1-3 3-7 5; Tim Lang 1-4 3-6 5; Connor Poston 1-1 3-4 5;
Paul Crone 1-2 0-2 3; Larry Geedey 1-2 0-0 2; Scott Peterson 0-0 0-0 0;
Kevin Kennedy 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 20-39 20-34 66.
McDaniel...................... 18 36 - 54
Gettysburg.................... 35 31 - 66
3-point goals--McDaniel 6-21 (Devon Lesniak 5-12; Christopher Cowles 1-2;
Cullen Murray-Kemp 0-1; Tyler Rudd 0-1; Michael Jarboe 0-5), Gettysburg 6-13
(Brendan Trelease 3-4; Andrew Powers 2-2; Paul Crone 1-2; Tim Lang 0-1;
Larry Geedey 0-1; Kevin Kennedy 0-3). Fouled out--McDaniel-Cullen
Murray-Kemp, Gettysburg-None. Rebounds--McDaniel 29 (Marcus Dyson 6),
Gettysburg 31 (Andrew Powers 9). Assists--McDaniel 6 (Christopher Cowles 2),
Gettysburg 11 (Ben Constable 4). Total fouls--McDaniel 24, Gettysburg 16.
Technical fouls--McDaniel-None, Gettysburg-None. A-729
Gettysburg clinches No. 3 seed in Centennial Conference playoffs, McDaniel
will be No. 4 seed