Feb. 20, 2008

Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. - Gettysburg overcame its largest deficit of the season, rallying from 13 points down in the opening half to defeat Franklin & Marshall 75-68 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Wednesday evening at the Mayser Center.

With the win, the Bullets tied a pair of school records. Gettysburg improved to 20-3 (15-2 CC) on the season, tying the single-season record for victories set by the 2001-02 team. Gettysburg also won its ninth game in a row, which ties the longest in-season winning streak in school history.

Corey Dorsey led Gettysburg with a game-high 24 points, including a pair of clutch free throws in the final minute, and shot 4-for-8 from beyond the arc while Dan Capkin added 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

Mitch Rhyner paced the Diplomats (12-12, 7-10 CC) with 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range. James McNally (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) added 15 points and team-high seven rebounds.

After trading the lead six times in the first five minutes of the game, F&M took five point lead thanks to two three-pointers from Rhyner to make it 12-7. Rhyner got his third shot to fall from behind the arc to give the Diplomats a double-digit lead at 26-13 with 6:40 to play in the first half.

Gettysburg chipped away at the lead in the final 4:30 to get within three at 32-29 and Daniel Selig made a layup with 48 seconds left for a five-point halftime edge.

After scoring 29 points in the opening half, the Bullets outscored F&M 46-34 in the second stanza, when it connected at a 60.0% clip.

The Diplomats trailed by as much as eight in the second half before rallying in the final minutes. A conventional three-point play from Brandon Chasen made it a 67-65 game, but that's as close as F&M would get. Andrew Powers answered for Gettysburg with to push the lead to four.

After the two sides exchanged turnovers, Capkin dropped in a driving lay-up with 50 seconds left to extend Gettysburg's lead to 71-65 before Rhyner canned his final trey of the night to make it a one-possession game with 41 ticks showing. However, Dorsey came up big, hitting pair of free throws after a hard foul on a lay-up attempt with 33 seconds to go. F&M then missed back-to-back three-pointers, and Dorsey scored a lay-up just before the buzzer.

The Diplomats return to action on Saturday against Dickinson. Game time is 4 p.m.