Basketball Picks Up First Centennial Win
The Bullets look to build offer their success at F&M (photo courtesy of David Sinclair)
By Ethan Silverstein, Staff Writer
The Bullets won their first conference game of the season against the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats, 84-71.
Gettysburg shot efficiently, going 55% from the floor and 31% from 3. They also cashed in from the foul line making 17-for-23 (73%).
Defensively, the Bullets held Franklin & Marshall to 40% from the field and just 25% from the free throw line. The Bullets never even let up their lead. “I think we just made toughness plays,” said Coach Dunne.
Juniors Nick Antolini and Nick Lord led the Bullets with 22 and 21 – both hitting 7 shots. Sophomore Avery Close went 5-for-7 and hit 2 threes 14 points. Junior Danny Duffey also added 10 points and 5 assists.
The first half was full of back-and-forth runs. After being tied 6-6, the Bullets went on a run to take a 6- point lead. The Diplomats fought back though and came within 1 to make it 30-29. To finish out the half, the Bullets went on a 10-5 run to end at 40-34.
In the first half, the Bullets shot extremely well from the floor going 17 of 28, but only 30% from three.
On the other end, Gettysburg held Franklin & Marshall to just 38% from the field and a mere 25% from three. The Bullets also racked up 5 steals and 2 blocks.
At the start of the second half, the Bullets kept adding onto their lead until they were up 11. Franklin & Marshall crept back with 5 straight baskets to make it 56-55.
“I think we just made toughness plays,” said Coach Dunne. “We had great poise at the end of the game. We were able to put it together at both ends of the floor.”
First-year Jack Rooney made the crucial play of the game to hang onto the lead. Tied with 7:26 left, Rooney stole the ball and drilled a 3 off an assist from Junior Danny Duffey. From then on, Gettysburg never lost the lead and closed out the game.
The Bullets are 2-4 overall and 1-0 in the Centennial Conference under first-year Head Coach B.J. Dunne. “Our guys are doing a really great job so far. Stylistically things are very different than in the past. So were asking guys to get out of their comfort zones and do things a bit differently.”
This was a big win for the new head coach. It’s been 41 years since a head coach won the first game against Franklin & Marshall – but that’s not important to him.
“It was great for our guys to see that we’re capable of beating some of the best teams in the Centennial,” said Coach Dunne. But he also knows it’s early in the season.
“We’re not going to be a finished product and we don’t want to be a finished product until January, February. I think we have a lot of room to grow and getting comfortable playing with each other.”
Gettysburg Men’s Basketball picks up again with 4 Centennial Conference games in a row.
