Men’s Basketball begins season with 4-1 record, Strong place in standings built on backs of experienced squad with new faces
Photo courtesy of gettysburg.edu. Junior Cody Kiefer was named Centennial Conference Player of the Week and was selected to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week in honor of his 34-point outing versus Johns Hopkins.
By Jacob Verner, Staff Writer
The outlook for this year’s Gettysburg College men’s basketball team looks promising with a 4-1 record. After a season opening away loss at York, the team has rebounded with four straight wins versus University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, University of Rutgers-Newark, Johns Hopkins University, and Dickinson College.
Senior forward/center Kevin Gladstone believes the team is on its way to big things this season saying they “will look to build on last season’s Centennial Conference semifinal finish” and become Centennial Conference champions. These are some lofty goals from the returning player from Havertown, Pennsylvania.
Gladstone has seen what it takes to be successful and will, “pass down [his] wisdom and experience to his younger teammates.” The most important factors in order for the team to have a successful year are “consistency on both ends of the floor, game in and game out” as well as, “competing the full forty minutes” of each game.
Kevin Gladstone along with two year starter and this past week’s Centennial Conference Player of the Week and member of the D3hoops.com Team of the Week, junior, Cody Kiefer will provide some valuable leadership to this year’s squad. Kiefer is posting solid stats thus far with fifteen points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game, and 3.5 assists per game.
Kiefer believes his experience has, “helped [him] be more confident in knowing what he is doing on the court” and will allow him to “communicate and help out the younger members of the team during in-game situations.”
Kiefer, a Gettysburg native, will look to bounce back and channel his scoring ability from his first year. Kiefer is an ideal scoring forward with good size that allows him to compete inside the paint as well as attack the rim.
Kiefer demonstrated his scoring ability in the team’s 83-70 victory over Johns Hopkins, leading the team with a career high thirty-four points. He was able to put up those numbers in an efficient manner going 11-15 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line.
Another player to look out for this season is sophomore forward Cam Stewart from Sydney, Australia. He was named the Gettysburg Tip-Off tournament MVP after posting a career high twenty-three points in the final, including the go-ahead three-pointer with just over a minute to go in the game.
Head Coach George Petrie returns for his twenty-seventh season as the head men’s basketball coach. Petrie has coached 667 games at Gettysburg College making him the longest tenured coach in program history. He is also Gettysburg’s winningest coach posting a career 362-305 record. Petrie and the Bullets will look to improve on these winning numbers this coming season.
The team’s next matchup is home against Centennial Conference rival Muhlenberg College at 8 p.m. on Dec. 1. The Bullets then will have a game against Messiah College before the Hood Holiday Tournament in Frederick, Maryland.
Be sure to come out and support the men’s basketball team as they continue their season and look for continued success on the court!
