HAVERFORD, Pa. – Gettysburg College shot 60-percent from the floor in the second half of Saturday's Centennial Conference meeting to take down the Haverford College men's basketball team, 85-58. The Fords had four players reach double figures in the scoring column for the second straight game, but just could not keep pace with the torrid shooting of the Bullets.
Gibby Graves led the Fords with 14 points in the game. Matt Sherman was right behind his senior teammate with 13 points, while Lucas Colombo and James Levine added 12 points on the afternoon. Gettysburg's offense was paced by a game-high 18 points from Kevin Gladstone on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, on top of hitting 8-of-9 at the free throw line. Tanner Kirkpatrick also added 16 more for the Bullets.
Saturday's conference meeting started out with the teams trading points all the way up until 13-all with five minutes gone by since the opening tip. However, Gettysburg began to distance itself with an 8-0 run over the next four minutes. Haverford cut the early deficit down to a single possession game and trailed by three points, 25-22, with 8:13 remaining in the half. This time it was a 12-0 run from the visitors that put the Bullets up by 15 before they took a 39-27 lead into halftime.
Haverford appeared to have some life in its legs during the earlier part of the second half when Graves came up with a steal and dunked on the opposite end to bring the Fords within seven, 46-39, capping a 7-0 run from the Fords. Nevertheless, one final run from Gettysburg in which it just did not miss for nearly eight minutes proved too much to overcome. That hot shooting stretch put the Bullets up 69-43 with just under eight minutes to play. Gettysburg's lead grew to as many as 29 points later in the half before settling for the 85-58 final.
Gettysburg finished the game 30-of-51 (58.8%) from the field. However, Haverford was strong at defending the perimeter as it limited the Bullets to just nine points from beyond the arc. Gettysburg also added 22 more points at the free throw line.
Men's basketball will look to end the 2014-15 season on a high note next week with its final two games of the season. The Fords will travel to Ursinus next Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tip. The home finale will also be the final game of the regular season as Swarthmore comes to campus for a 3 p.m. tip. Both games next week will be doubleheaders that are preceded by the women's team.
A "RED OUT" has been declared by the Haverford Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for both rivalry games against Swarthmore next Saturday.