After Tight First Half, Swarthmore Pulls Away to Defeat Bullets Men’s Basketball
By Benjamin Pontz ’20, Managing News Editor
Swarthmore’s men’s basketball team entered Saturday’s matchup with the Gettysburg Bullets ranked 11th in the country while the Bullets entered with a 5-13 record (3-9 in Centennial Conference play).
Nevertheless, during the first half, Gettysburg seemed well-positioned to notch an upset as Nick Lord ’20 had a hot hand from beyond the arc, sinking four of his first five shots from long distance, and Luke Cooper ’19 attacked the rim for 6 first-half points all the while the Bullets played tough half-court defense that held Swarthmore to just 20 shot attempts. At the half, Swarthmore led 27-26.
In the second half, though, all of that began to fade away. Lord missed both of his three-point attempts and Cooper shot just 1-for-4 from the floor after intermission. 10 second half points from Cameron Stewart ’18 notwithstanding, Swarthmore pulled away, shooting 58% from the field and making 8 of 14 three-point shots in the second half, and notched a 78-64 victory.
Lord ultimately finished with 18 points, Stewart had 12, and Matt England ’18 and Cooper each added 9 as the Bullets dropped to 5-14 overall including losses in seven of their last nine games. They will look to upset 15-4 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. in Bream Gym.