With less than 15 seconds to play and holding a 76-73 advantage, Muhlenberg men's basketball needed one stop. The game that it had controlled for the majority of the first 39 minutes was in danger of slipping away, as Gettysburg got hot and made it a one-possession game late.

Head coach Scott McClary held his hands above his head and shouted "rebound!" knowing that his team could not afford to give up second-chance opportunities.  And freshman Sam McClellan, who was on the court during crunch time for the first time in his career, did just that.

"Being in late in the game is a lot different. It's much faster and a lot more hectic. You have to calm yourself down and our veterans like Malique [Killing], [Jon] Schreer, [Brandon] LaRose really helped me," McClellan said. "I wanted to secure it with two hands and make sure I had it. I knew I was going to get fouled as soon as I got the ball."

"I haven't finished a game out yet this year but I knew when I went in for the last three minutes I had one job — rebound."

With phase one of his game-winning plan complete, McClellan completed phase two, which was to make the back end of his double bonus free throws with 12.6 ticks on the clock, making it a two-possession game, which is how it would end. McClellan and the Mules held on for a 77-73 victory over the visiting Bullets, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

With four games remaining in the regular season, Muhlenberg (11-10, 6-8) is one game behind Gettysburg (11-10, 7-7) for the fifth and final Centennial Conference playoff spot.

"I wasn't as nervous for the first one because I thought I was just going to walk up and knock it down. On the second one I really zeroed in. I knew if I made that one the game would be much easier for us," McClellan said of his game-sealing free-throw attempts.

This win was the Mules' third in row, as this young group has begun to play its best basketball as the season comes down to its home stretch. They looked like a much more complete team than they did back on January 10, when they fell to this same Gettysburg team, 75-54.

Malique Killing (pictured above) led all scorers with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting and four assists, including a highlight, behind-the-back pass to Nick Rindock for a layup in transition in the second half. A baseline drive and kick to Jon Schreer for a corner three late in the second half was the 300^th assist of his career. Killing is only the second player in CC history to record 1,800 points and 300 assists.

"Malique is absolutely ridiculous. Rindock does a good job of being in the right place at the right time and he hit him with a tremendous pass," McClellan said.

Brandon LaRose (pictured left) missed only one shot, going 6-for-7 for a career-high 17 points.  Overall, Muhlenberg continued its hot shooting from deep, going 7-of-12 from three-point range. Muhlenberg started the game on a 6-0 run and, despite several Gettysburg runs, never trailed, showing poise beyond its youth.

Of Muhlenberg's 200 minutes in the game, 81 percent came from freshmen and sophomores. The Mules have stayed with the plan all season, and the results are starting to show.

"Coach kept saying we're going to win, it's just a matter of when. Things have really started to click for us now. We got a big win down at McDaniel and followed that up with a win over Haverford the other night. We came in here with a lot of momentum and we played our best defensive game of the year," McClellan said.