By Maegan White
Elm Staff Writer
The Shoremen basketball team hosted Centennial Conference competitor Gettysburg College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Finnegan Court in the Penny J. Fall Gymnasium. The Bullets beat the Shoremen, whose record now stands at 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the conference. Gettysburg’s overall record is 3-4 and their conference record is 1-2.
The Bullets started the game with an early lead of 19-9. The Shoremen responded with junior guard Kendrick Frink starting a three-point streak. With this, the Shoremen took their first and only lead of the game with a score of 23-20.
Gettysburg then posted ten unanswered points and continued to break away from the Shoremen’s short term lead. In the last ten minutes of the first half, the Bullets scored 27 points while the Shoremen only scored nine points. The Bullets left the first half, leading the Shoremen 47-32.
The Shoremen opened the second half with two three-pointers from junior guards Marcus Scott Jason Zielinski. For the most part of the second half, the Shoremen and the Bullets remained shot and for shot. At the ten minute mark, the Shoremen had a five-point break and got within 4 points of the Bullets with a score of 62-58.
The Bullets maintained and strengthened their lead in the last ten minutes of the game, only allowing the Shoremen to earn eight more points. The Bullets scored 23 points in that same time.
The Shoremen outshot the Bullets in the second half 38-34 but Gettysburg’s lead in the first half was too large for the Shoremen to catch. The game ended with the Bullets victorious 85 – 66 over the home team.
The Shoremen applied strong defense on the Bullets and won 17 turnovers while only giving up ten. However, the Bullets had superior offense compared to the Shoremen. Gettysburg had greater field goal and free throw percentage out shooting the shoremen 47.1% to 35.3% and 70.0% to 42.9% respectively. The Shoremen barely outperformed the Bullets in three-point percentage 33.3% to 30.4%.
Another reason for the Bullet’s win was their decisive control on rebounds. The Bullets recorded 53 total rebounds: 17 offensive rebounds and 41 defensive rebounds. The Shoremen only recorded 30 points total, 23 defensive and 7 offensive rebounds.
The Shoremen’s top performers of the game included Zelinksi who recorded a team-high 15 points in the game. Frink was close behind with 12 points in the game. Freshman forward Davis Bland and Sam Corrao were third in the team, with eight points scored each.
Frink and sophomore guard Zack Skrocki each had seven rebounds for the Shoremen abd sophomore guard Ismael Baqui earned five assists. Corrao and Zelinksi posted had three assists.
The Shoremen will play Brynn Athyn College next and are looking to secure their first win of the season. The Shoremen won their two exhibition games against them in March 2021 and hope to continue that streak.