GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Gettysburg methodically built a double-digit lead midway through the second half before staving off a rally in a 53-45 win over McDaniel in the first round of the Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball tournament on Wednesday.

Andrew Merlo (Rehoboth, Del./Cape Henlopen) led the Green Terror (14-12) with 14 points.

Kevin Gladstone scored 17 points to lead the Bullets (15-11, 10-8 CC), who advance to Friday's CC semifinals at top-seeded and 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins. Game time will be 8 p.m.

Tied at 2-all, Merlo just beat the shot clock buzzer with 16:54 to play and Wes Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) hit a jumper to open up a 7-2 advantage.

Tim Stewart (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) answered two Cameron Stewart free throws before a Tanner Kirkpatrick tip-on made it a 96 game with 14:34 showing.

Layups from Phillip Perry (Crownsville, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) and Merlo pushed the advantage to 13-6 midway through the first half.

Six straight Gettysburg points closed the deficit to 13-12 with 5:00 on the clock.

Merlo momentarily pushed the lead back to three off a Perry steal and pass ahead but back-to-back Kevin Gladstone layups and a Joe Emerusabe 3-pointer gave the hosts a 19-15 advantage at the break.

Clinging to a 21-20 advantage after a Merlo triple with 18:53 remaining, Gladstone hit a jumper to spark a 6-0 burst that gave the hosts their largest lead to that point.

A Gladstone layup stretched the advantage to 36-27 with 11:29 showing before an Alex Kaslander free throw a minute later made it a double-digit game.

Kirkpatrick stretched the lead to 13 before Merlo converted a four-point play with 8:25 to play, cutting the deficit to single digits.

Driving to the basket, Perry was fouled and converted the layup and ensuing free throw to close the deficit to 47-42 with 3:06 on the clock.

Gladstone responded, hauling in the rebound off a blocked shot and hitting a turnaround in the lane to push the lead back to seven.

On the other end, Perry drained just his third triple of the season to make it a four-point contest with 2:14 remaining.

Sean Gordon drained both free throws with 21.9 seconds to stretch the lead back to six and ice the win.

Stewart and Perry added 12 points apiece for McDaniel, which will await next week's ECAC selection to see if its season continues. Stewart added seven rebounds while Brooks grabbed six boards.

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