Box Score SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's basketball team fell to Gettysburg by the score of 70-63 on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Tarble Pavilion.
Swarthmore (6-9, CC 2-6) got off to a quick start against the Bullets (10-5, CC 6-2) as senior
Karl Barkley and sophomore
Sam Lebryk knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the game's opening minutes. Gettysburg responded promptly with an 8-0 run. An old-fashioned three-point play from Tanner Kirkpatrick put the Garnet down 11-6 with 16:48 to go in the half.
Despite the early deficit, Swarthmore showed no indication of backing down. Following a timeout by Coach Kosmalski with 10:02 remaining in the opening period, the Garnet answered with an impressive run. The stretch was capped off by an easy lay-up from sophomore
Andrew Kaufmann, facilitated by the feed from freshman
Zack Yonda. The two teams traded barbs throughout the final minutes of the half, but a bucket by Yonda with :44 seconds to go sent the Garnet to the locker room with a 29-28 lead over the Bullets.
After a tightly contested first half in which the lead changed eight times, the narrative remained much the same to start the second period of play. A jumper from Gettysburg's Pete Christ briefly put the Bullets in front until a bucket by sophomore
Chris Bourne put the home team back in the lead with 16:53 left in the game.
Down 37-36, Gettysburg found their groove following a 3-pointer by Sean Gordon at the 15:39 mark. Over the next seven minutes, the Bullets built up a 13-point lead, punctuated by a jumper from Kevin Gladstone. Facing a double-digit deficit with just 8:17 remaining, Swarthmore made an impressive bid to salvage the contest. After aggressively taking the ball to the rim and drawing a foul, Yonda knocked down two free throws to pull the Garnet back within five.
Despite Swarthmore's efforts down the stretch, Gettysburg put the game away with solid shooting from the charity stripe. The Bullets' ability to score from the line ultimately made the difference, as they converted on 18 of 20 opportunities over the course of the contest. In the end, Gettysburg outscored Swarthmore 70-63.
Swarthmore was led by the dangerous tandem of Yonda and Bourne, who scored 17 and 16 points respectively while each pulling down a team-high five rebounds. This marks the 12
th consecutive game that Yonda has scored in double digits. Lebryk played a strong game for the Garnet as well, dropping in 10 points including two buckets from downtown.
Tanner Kirkpatrick led the charge for Gettysburg, pouring in a game-high 18 points to go along with a game-high five assists and five rebounds. The Bullets played great team basketball, finishing with all five of their starters in double digits.
Swarthmore will return to the court on Wednesday Jan. 21 when they play host to archrival Haverford College at 8 p.m.
