Gettysburg, PA – Tournament MVP Dan Capkin scored a career-high 31 points on sizzling 13-of-17 shooting and Gettysburg rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat Messiah College 81-67 in the championship game of the 17th annual Gettysburg Days Inn Tip-Off Tournament Saturday afternoon at Bream Gymnasium.
After trailing for most of the first half, Gettysburg (2-0) used a pair of runs to first retake the lead, and then pull away at the end. Messiah led 54-47 with 14:28 left before the Bullets went in front to stay after a 13-0 run, capped by a pair of free throws from freshman center Andrew Powers with 10:10 remaining. The Bullets sealed their victory with a 10-0 surge that turned a four-point (62-58) lead into a 14-point cushion with 3:44 on the clock following two Corey Dorsey foul shots. The Falcons were unable to trim the deficit under 12 the rest of the way.
Capkin, who shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, finished with 58 points for the tournament after a 27-point night in the Bullets' first-round win over Marietta.
Dorsey finished with 19 points for the Bullets while junior guard Chris Nevolo tied a career-high with 11 points on 7-of-7 free-throw shooting to go with four assists. Junior forward Joe Spierenburg tallied nine points, eight rebounds, and five blocks. Powers added eight points on 8-of-8 foul shooting and was named to the all-tournament team for the Bullets, who shot 85.7% (24-for-28) at the charity stripe, including a 94.7% mark (18-of-19) in the second half. Powers also scored 22 points against Marietta.
Senior Darryl Brown (Bowie, MD/Riverdale Baptist) and sophomore Jamie Yoder (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) paced Messiah (1-1) with 16 points apiece, with Yoder shooting 4-for-4 from three-point range. Sophomore Andy Hawk (New Cumberland/Cedar Cliff) contributed 11 points for the Falcons. Classmate Josh Curtin (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) was named to the all-tournament team, in addition to Hawk.
There were five ties and four lead changes over the game's opening 7:51, and Gettysburg led 14-12 after a Capkin lay-up with 12:26 remaining in the opening half. But that's when Yoder knocked down his first trey of the game, kicking off an 11-0 Messiah run that put the Falcons up nine (23-14) with 9:38 showing.
The Bullets answered with an 8-0 spurt, capped by a Capkin three with 7:17 on the clock, to pull to within one, but Messiah closed the half on a 7-0 run to assume a 41-32 halftime advantage. Junior guard Jason Miller (State College, PA/State College) closed the run with a conventional three-point play with one second left following a steal by Ryan Witmer (Wooster, OH/Triway) in the backcourt.
For the second game in a row, Gettysburg shot over 50.0%, as the Bullets connected on 59.1% of their attempts. After shooting 50.0% in the opening period, the Falcons went 34.6% from the field in the second half to finish at 42.6%.
The Falcons return to action on Tuesday night at Division II opponent Mansfield University. Tip-off is set for 7:00.
Portions of this press release courtesy of Gettysburg's website.
