Gula's Late Jumper Lifts Greyhounds to 67-66 Win over Drew

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Senior guard Kenny Gula hit a baseline jumper with 2.8 seconds left to give the Moravian College men's basketball team a 67-66 Landmark Conference victory over visiting Drew University in Johnston Hall Wednesday evening.

"It is two games in a three-game swing where we've played pretty well and had a nice lead but we've lost that lead," stated Head Coach Jim Walker. "Tonight, at each of the timeouts, we talked about being positive and doing the right things. We were finally able to get a stop and make a couple of baskets to get the win."

Gula's jumper rescued the Greyhounds who saw an 11-point lead (62-51) with 6:48 remaining slip to a three-point deficit (66-63) with 1:37 to play. Senior center Blake English pulled Moravian within a point 1:11 to go before Gula hit the winning shot.

"Kenny's shot was actually a busted play," Walker said. "We designed a play at the timeout but it broke down so Izel ended up driving and Kenny got open for the pass. Kenny made a nice baseline shot, and he shot the ball well all game."

The duo was part of four Greyhounds in double figures with Gula netting a team-high 15 points while English tossed in 12 points. Senior forward Cameron Cullen contributed his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds while junior guard Izel Dickerson added 11 points.

"We're looking for this team to have a balanced scoring attack as we did tonight," Walker stated. "We shot the ball well all around and were even better inside the three-point line."

Moravian had an early 8-3 lead just under four minutes into the game after a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Matt Bosch, who finished with nine points but the Rangers scored the next six points to take a 9-8. The rest of the first half went back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than four points.

With the score tied at 31-31 with a minute to go in the first half, Gula hit a fast break lay-up and assisted on two more baskets in the final 16 seconds to send the Greyhounds to the locker room to with a 37-31 lead.

English opened the scoring in the second half to push Moravian's lead to eight points. The Greyhounds pushed the lead to nine points, 44-35, on a free throw by freshman guard Sean Hanna only to see Drew squeeze the lead to four points, the final time at 53-49 on the third of three three-pointers by Mike Klinger, who scored a game-high 19 points for the Rangers.

Gula hit a three-pointer followed by a free throw by junior forward Garrett Kashmer and a trey by Dickerson to give Moravian its first double-digit lead of the night, 60-49, with 7:38 remaining. English added a lay-up after a Drew basket for the 62-51 lead.

The Rangers then scored on eight straight possessions over the next five minutes while the Greyhounds' only point during the run was a Bosch free throw at the 4:42 mark. Drew moved in front, 64-63, on a three-pointer by John Ford at 2:46 and a put back by Chris Capelli at 1:37 gave the Rangers the three-point edge before the Greyhounds scored the final four points of the game.

Both teams shot over 43 percent from the floor and 73 percent at the foul line with Moravian holding a 34-27 advantage in rebounds.

The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, January 18 in a Landmark Conference game at The Catholic University of America tipping off at 4:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C.