LANCASTER, Pa. – Senior Pete Christ knocked down a 3-pointer with four seconds left and the Gettysburg College men's basketball team won its Centennial Conference (CC) opener in dramatic fashion, upsetting 23rd-ranked Franklin & Marshall on the road, 57-54, Tuesday evening.
 
A strong defensive effort and a balanced offense paced the Bullets (1-3, 1-0 CC), who earned their first win over Franklin & Marshall at the Mayser Center since the 2009 Centennial Conference Championship game.
 
Gettysburg, which never trailed after outscoring the Diplomats 19-5 to start the game, held F&M to 34.0 percent shooting, including 25.0 percent (4-for-16) from 3-point range.
 
Although no Bullet scored more than 10 points, eight players found their way into the scoring column, with senior center Tanner Kirkpatrick, freshman guard Danny Duffey, and senior center Mlynue Reevesnetting 10 points apiece. Christ, who also hit a big 3-ball with 2:48 left, finished with nine points while senior forward Cody Kiefer added seven points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 4:13 left.
 
Julius Stoma led F&M (2-1, 1-0 CC) with 18 points while Matthew Tate netted 16 points.
 
After trailing by as much as 11 in the second half, the Diplomats chipped away at the deficit and came all the way back to tie it at 54-all with 32 seconds left following a Stoma lay-up off an inbound pass.
 
Gettysburg brought the ball upcourt and called timeout with 10 seconds left, and Duffey would deliver a kick-out pass to a wide-open Christ in the right corner.
 
After Christ's go-ahead triple, Franklin & Marshall raced the ball over halfcourt and called timeout with 1.9 seconds left; however, the Diplomats turned the ball over on the inbound pass from the right wing.
 
The Bullets were hot right from the opening tip, outscoring the Diplomats 19-5 over the opening nine minutes while making eight of their first 14 field-goal attempts. Reeves provided a spark off the bench, scoring seven points in less than two minutes during the stretch, including a conventional 3-point play and a fastbreak lay-up that gave the Bullets their 14-point advantage.
 
F&M chipped away at the deficit to pull to within eight (27-19) with 4:12 left in the half, and it was a 29-20 game with 2:52 on the clock. But Gettysburg ended the half on a 6-1 spurt, and a tip-in from Kiefer seconds before the buzzer put the Bullets back up by 14 (35-21) at the break.
 
Gettysburg held Franklin & Marshall to 23.1 percent shooting in the first half, when Reeves scored eight points and Kiefer netted all seven of his points.
 
The Diplomats hit a 3-pointer on their first possession of the second half but were unable to get closer than seven over the opening eight minutes of the period. The Bullets led 43-32 with 12:58 left, but that's when F&M responded with a 10-2 run to pull to with three with 8:21 remaining. The hosts nudged to within two before Christ canned his first 3-pointer of the night with 2:48 left to make it 52-47.
 
Gettysburg's lead appeared to be safe after Kirkpatrick nailed a pair of free throws in a 1-and-1 situation to make it 54-50 with 1:25 to go. However, F&M answered with a Brandon Federici jumper, and a Gettysburg turnover set up Stoma's game-tying lay-up.