Men’s Basketball Wins Finale over Muhlenberg
Senior Alec Warren added a career-high 25 points in his last game (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Ethan Silverstein, Staff Writer
Gettysburg College Men’s Basketball team ended their season with a win against Muhlenberg. The Bullets won 78-69 with two players scoring over 20 points.
Senior Alec Warren dropped a career-high 25 points, hitting 7 three-pointers to go along with 2 boards, 2 assists and a steal. Junior Nick Antolini followed him with a double-double, shooting 10-for-16 from the floor for 23 points and grabbing 12 boards.
Sophomore Avery Close added another double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Danny Duffey had a well-rounded game with 7 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals.
The Bullets shot an efficient 39% from the floor and 37% from three. Though the Bullets only scored 5 points off the bench, the starters got the job done.
On defense, the Bullets put up a stout performance. The Bullets held the Mules to 33% shooting and allowed only one Muhlenberg player to score over 20 points.
The Bullets started off hot, scoring 2 three-pointers from Alec Warren and jumped to a 13-2 lead in the first few minutes. The lead sparked a back-and-forth ignited by a three pointer from Muhlenberg’s Michael Morreale. However, Alec Warren’s hot shooting from beyond the arc kept Gettysburg in the game as they closed the lead and ended the half up 37-32.
In the second half, the Bullets never lost the lead. Gettysburg started the second half just as hot as the first, leaping out to a 10 point lead. Gettysburg kept Muhlenberg an arm’s reach away from much of the second half, but came within 4 points with just 44 seconds left on the clock.
To preserve the win, Alec Warren hit pairs of free-throws back-to-back to take the lead back up to 8. Avery Close shut the door with a rebound and 2 late free throws to close out the game, 78-69.
The Bullets finished the season 6-19 and 5-13 in the Centennial Conference.
“I think anytime there’s change there definitely needs to be patience. We’re building a new culture and trying to sustain competitive excellence,” Head Coach B.J. Dunne commented.
This season was also Head Coach B. J. Dunne’s first season as head coach.
“I was really proud just of the resiliency. I think when you have a tough season like we had its really easy for guys to quit. I think it shows really strong character of our group that they kept fighting and kept fighting and learning,” said Coach Dunne.
Gettysburg’s three captains, Alec Warren, Luke Cooper, and Matt Palacio were also their seniors this season.
“To have them really buy into what we’re doing, they were only going to have us for a year, I think it’s really important they did that,” said Coach Dunne.
Looking to next year, the Bullets are excited to get back into action.
“There’s a lot of things that we’re capable of doing. There’s nothing we’d like more than as a coaching staff than have our returners be a catalyst and take this program to the next level and play meaningful basketball games at the end of February next year,” said Coach Dunne.
The Bullets went 2-2 in the last two weeks of the season and are taking that as a good sign heading into next year.
“We got a lot better and started playing basketball the way we wanted to play. It was a really good momentum builder for us as we head into the off season and next year,” Coach Dunne said.
