The beat(ings) go on……..Gordon streak reaches six after late fold keys loss to Curry

Dave Dempsey drives to give Gordon a short-lived 53-51 lead.

Sedale Jones glides in for two of his nineteen points

(Wenham) The last time Curry played at Gordon (February 27, 2010), the crowd at game’s end, poured onto the court to salute the Commonwealth Coast Champions after a Timmy MacDonnell steal preserved a 56-54 win.

After today’s game the crowd left the stands and went out the door wondering how the Scots can continue to fold late and squander winnable games.

The “had-and-lost” number reached six on Saturday afternoon as Gordon played a brutal final 6 ½ minutes blowing a nine-point lead (getting outscored 21-4) and losing to Curry, 61-53, at the Bennett Center.

Gordon (6-12 overall / 5-6 in CCC), despite the loss, holds the 7th spot in the ten-team CCC standings.  Eight teams make the post-season playoffs.  Fortunately today the three teams below them (ENC, UNE, WNEC) all picked up their 8th loss.  The Scots play UNE on Thursday and ENC on Saturday.

At 6:22 of the second half a Dave Dempsey (13 points) free throw put Gordon in front, 49-40.  You had to like the team’s chances at this juncture unless you had been around for the previous five games.

Off came the wheels over the next 3 ½ minutes and the Colonels collected eleven straight points.  The Scots had five empty possessions low-lighted by three turnovers and stumbled behind, 51-49, with 2:43 left.

But as was the case in most of the recent losses, the Scots went down but recovered to renew the hope of a win.  Dave Dempsey hit two free throws to tie the score. Then after a Sedale Jones miss, Dave drove the left side to give Gordon a 53-51 lead with 1:40 left.  Beware, excruciation ahead!

Curry scored ten straight points the rest of the way while the Scots turned the ball over (Alex Carnes), missed a 3 (Park Thomas), missed a 3 (Luke Hamilton), missed a putback (Hans Miersma), and missed a 3 (Luke Hamilton).

The Colonels made five of eleven triples in the game but were 3-for-3 in the late-game rally.  Brian Boyajian’s long one gave Curry the lead (54-53) after Dave’s layup.  Michael Connery’s triple on the Colonels’ next possession increased the Curry spread to 57-53 with thirty-seven seconds left.

Brian Boyajian triple (54-53)

Michael Connery triple (57-53)

Sedale Jones had a terrific stat line for Curry – 19 points / 7 rebounds / 2 blocks / 6 steals.

Dave Dempsey led Gordon with thirteen points but it took him fourteen shots to get there.

Park Thomas in Curry traffic

Dead Horse Assault Alert: Turnovers continue to be Gordon’s biggest problem.  Twenty-three more were served up this afternoon.  Those turnovers led to an alarming twenty Curry points!  Would a first-of-the-season backdoor cut dissuade every team’s overly zealous passing lane defenders?  The goal should be to produce a good scoring chance on each possession.

Good crowd on hand with numerous alumni in the house.  I saw Aaron Vogelzang, John Beebe, Ben Gaskill, and Timmy MacDonnell.

Curry (8-10 overall / 6-5 in CCC) faces UNE next Tuesday.

The Scots host Roger Williams on Tuesday night at the Bennett Center (8PM).  Gordon defeated RWU last time at Bristol.  Today RWU defeated Endicott at Bristol – go figure!

I think that it is accurate to say that in this year’s CCC there are no easy wins and no certain losses.  Any team (I’m looking at you, Gordon) can win if they play well……for an entire game. C’mon, stop the bleeding on Tuesday night!

(The pictures above and below enlarge if you click on them.)

Lambros Papalambros

Park Thomas and Michael Connery

happy ending for Curry

Hans Miersma shoots over John Durkin

Jon Himottu blocks Thomas McLean

Gordon crowd

AJ Stephens (15 points) and Jason Dempsey (6 points)

Gordon bench

Another Tough Gordon Loss……54-50 to Western New England

David Dempsey (10 points & 12 rebounds)

(Newburyport) If you’re looking for the big smiley face from last night’s, 54-50, loss at Western New England (6-10 overall / 3-7 in the CCC) I’ll give you a little of that.  On the other hand, if you’re looking for some grim reality….read on.

The good stuff?  The Scots (6-11 overall / 5-5 CCC) rallied back from a 28-13 first half deficit to get into winning position.  It took a 29-14 surge over nearly sixteen minutes to do it but they did to gain a 42-42 tie with 6:31 remaining.

Another source of optimism is a look at the current Commonwealth Coast Conference standings.
Salve Regina    8-2
Endicott        6-3
Wentworth    6-4
RWU        6-4
Curry        5-5
Nichols        5-5
Gordon        5-5
UNE        3-7
WNEC        3-7
ENC        2-7

Eight teams make the post-season tournament.  The Scots are currently “in” the tournament and in good position to improve their positioning with victories ahead in the eight league games left.

Okay, enough of that happy talk.  Let’s get down to the reality of last night’s painful loss.  I know, every loss is “painful,” but if you’ve been following the Scots of late you’ve been through a succession of hard-to-swallow setbacks.  Last night fit perfectly into the pattern.

The losing streak has reached five and that lofty 5-0 conference record two weeks ago is now tenuous 5-5.  That gurgling sound we’re hearing of late is the sound of a promising season going down the drain.

In my opinion, the CCC consists of ten teams capable of winning on any given night/afternoon.  You look at the teams ahead of Gordon and you know that we’ve beaten one of them (RWU) and come close with the other three.

The key to last night’s loss was Daniel Minto.  Where’d he come from?  In the early season loss at Gordon, Daniel had two points in twenty minutes.

However, by the start of 2012, Daniel had been elevated by WNEC coach Mike Theulen to the starting lineup and has earned staying there.  He had thirteen points/thirteen rebounds against Salve Regina.  The 6-3 sophomore had twenty points/eight rebounds against Gordon.

He killed the Scots three times in the last minute to give the Golden Bears the win.  Gordon reader discretion advised!  (1) Down by two (50-48) with a minute left and with a chance to tie/go ahead, the Scots’ David Dempsey’s layup try is blocked by Daniel. (2) Ahead by two (50-48) with twenty-two seconds left, the Bears miss a layup but Daniel gets the offensive rebound and is fouled.  (3) Ahead (50-48) with 22 seconds left, Daniel makes both free throws to give the Bears a 52-50 lead.  A block, a rebound, and two free throws……..not a bad last minute!

A bigger look at this game reveals two continuing, correctable currents that have to be dealt with before it’s too late.

Turnovers.  There are turnovers and then there are turnovers that lead to opponent’s points.  The Scots give way too many of the latter.  Eighteen points worth to Western New England.  The transition from offense to defense after turnovers must improve dramatically or the ball movement (before the turnover) must get better.

Bench Points.  Still waiting for someone to come off the bench and make the difference in these close games the team faces regularly.  Versus Western New England the bench provided a pitiful four points.

Next for Gordon is Curry on Saturday afternoon (3PM) at the Bennett Center.  Both teams are 5-5 in the CCC.

Curry knows our pain.  Last night they lost to Nichols by two on a Nichols layup with three seconds left.  At least the winning dagger wasn’t on a long-range three by a hardly-used player!  Curry had twenty-six turnovers in the Nichols game.  This was a team that Gordon defeated in an earlier matchup at Curry.  Could this be the turning-point game???

Late Three Gets Nichols Past Gordon in Men’s Basketball

(Wenham) Excruciating.

The Gordon faithful watching at the Bennett Center and via the internet on Saturday afternoon know what I’m writing about and now the rest of you will find out.

Matt Langadas with the ball - Craig Merrick out of view to the left

Craig Merrick wide open on left wing

Craig Merrick releases the game-winner.

The Scots dropped their fourth straight as Nichols’ Craig Merrick drained a triple with four seconds left to give the visitors a thrilling, 71-69, win.  Meanwhile, The Faithful were stunned but not surprised.

Gordon (6-10 overall / 5-4 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference) has now dropped four straight CCC games and established an agonizing pattern in the losses.  They play well in the first half and squander their advantage in the second half because of sub-par defense and shaky ball management.

On Thursday, Wentworth pulled out a win over Gordon in the last six seconds when Derek Mayo connected on a triple for one-point win.  Then to follow two days later with this loss.  Very tough.

David Dempsey takes last shot

In both games David Dempsey has ended up taking desperation 3’s afterwards and come reasonably close both times.  The way things are going he may want to put some more practice into last-second shots!

In this one Gordon led by nine at halftime, 37-28, thanks to 57% shooting.  That lead reached eleven (44-33) on a Park Thomas three with 15:38 left.

Then the ride south took place as the nonstop Bison pressure began to pay off.  Less then eight minutes later Jessy Michaud’s long shot gave Nichols a 55-53 advantage.  (That was a 22-9 run for the visitors.)

The rest of the way?  Very exciting for both teams.  There were five ties, several lead changes, and neither team ahead by more than three.  Anybody’s game.

Nichols’ last 3-point lead was after a Ryan Sheehan layup at 1:27 but Alex Carnes followed with two free throws.  Then the Bison’s best 3-point shooter (Sam Horning) missed and Park Thomas followed with two pressure-packed free throws with thirteen seconds left to give the Scots a tenuous one-point lead.

A Nichols timeout brought Craig Merrick into the game.  The 6-6 junior had played three minutes in the first half and none in the second.  Why did Coach Dave Sokolnicki put him in the game?  He’s the team second-best 3-point shooter.

Hans Miersma stayed in the lane to discourage any last-second attempts from in close and that left the man he was guarding (Craig Merrick) with space beyond the 3-point line. Matt Langadas was able to get the ball to Craig on the wing and with four seconds left he cashed in the game winner.

David Dempsey (16 points) covers Matt Langadas (17 points)

Besides that crucial assist, Matt (freshman) had three others to go with a game-high seventeen points.  Matt is from the same high school (Lake Region – Naples ME) that Jon Marstaller played for.

David Dempsey (16) and Alex Carnes (15) paced Gordon.

Senior JT Himmelstein has re-emerged as an active player.

Taking care of the ball continues to be a team-wide problem.  The Bison gathered twenty points off of turnovers in the second half alone.  No way are we discussing a loss if those miscues had been fewer.

Nichols (6-10 overall / 4-5 in the CCC) had three freshman and a sophomore as their top four scorers.

Two positive takeaways from this game for me were: (1) the Scots hung with Nichols even after losing the eleven-point lead, and (2) the students were back and active.

Things are going to get better.

Next game is at Western New England (Springfield) on Wednesday night (7:30).  The team returns to the Bennett Center for a rematch with Curry on Saturday afternoon.

(The pictures above and below enlarge if you click on them.)

Jalen Graham & JT Himmelstein

Craig Merrick mobbed afterwards

Gordon dance team

JT Himmelstein

Mike Salis looks for an opening

Hans Miersma jam

Park Thomas before crucial free throws

Derek Mayo’s Late Three Gets Wentworth Past Gordon (60-59) in Men’s Basketball

A triple by Derek Mayo with five seconds left gives the Wentworth Leopards the win.

(Newburyport) This one was hard to watch…….and I’m not just writing about the live video from Wentworth.

Gordon squandered another second half lead, and lost to Wentworth, 60-59, at Wentworth on Thursday night. That “now-you-have-it-now-you-don’t” routine reached three.

(After a slippery drive out of Boston after a Monday night Celtics game, I chose not to be back in there with snow in the forecast after this game.)

Gordon (6-9 overall / 5-3 CCC) may not suffer a more painful loss then this one.  If so, I beg for some warning so that I will miss such a game!

The Scots shot very well (60%) in the first half to get ahead, got caught briefly (41-40 – 12:23) in the second half, then built up a solid eight-point lead (57-49) with 3:12 left.

After that?  Fingernails on the chalkboard time!  This was the sequence of Gordon possessions:
turnover (Luke Hamilton),
missed 3 (Park Thomas),
turnover (Hans Miersma) which gave Derek Mayo a layup, missed front end of 1-and-1 (Park Thomas),
turnover (Hans Miersma),
2 made free throws (Park Thomas) with 21 seconds left     to give GC a 2-point lead (59-57),
missed 3 (David Dempsey) at buzzer.

Wentworth (9-5 overall / 5-3 CCC) got two huge plays from sophomore Derek Mayo in the late, 12-2, run that pulled this one out for the Leopards.

On Derek’s first big play, one second Hans had a rebound and the next thing you saw was Derek making a layup. So instead of GC with a 57-53 lead, with the ball, and 1:28 left, the lead was cut to two points.

After Park’s two made free throws the Scots went in front by two with 21 seconds left.  After a timeout, the Leopards were very patient passing around the perimeter.  I thought they would try to get to the basket and at least get free throws but Derek got a pretty clear look from long range from the top of the key and connected for the game winner with five seconds left.  David Dempsey had a last-second shot from long range but missed.

The pain doesn’t get any less describing it!  This was truly one that got away.

Let me segue into a piece of information.  In the ten-team Commonwealth Coast Conference, eight teams make the playoffs.  When the Scots were 5-0 in the CCC that information didn’t mean much.  Now at 5-3, you start to wonder where the team will be after the next ten league games.

However, a discernable pattern has developed: 3 losses, 3 wins, 3 losses, 3 wins, and now 3 losses.  Gordon’s next three opponents (Nichols, Western New England, and Curry) should now know what to expect!

The Nichols game is Saturday afternoon (3PM) at the Bennett Center.  The Scots need some serious student support.

Park Thomas (season high seventeen points)

Park Thomas paced Gordon with a season-high seventeen points.  He has had only four turnovers in the last two games.

Hans Miersma had his second double/double (10 points/11 rebounds) of the season and added a season-high five blocks.  Should I mention his season-high also in turnovers (five) including two in the last 1 ½ minutes?  Didn’t think so!

Wentworth collected seventeen points off of Gordon giveaways.  In a low-scoring game, that’s a lot of points.

But there will be a second chance against Wentworth at home and Gordon certainly played well enough for the faithful to be able to look ahead optimistically at the rematch.

I don’t see many games on live video but after watching this one I can now feel the pain of those of you out there who do.  My eyes are old but it seemed as if almost everything was out of focus.  I appreciated the announcer keeping me up-to-date on player’s names (It’s BADGE-a-ma not bah-JAHM-a) but did he know that we have no view of the scoreboard??  And then there were the inopportune-time commercials.  We got to watch a 30-second commercial with play going on in the last minute……..now that was painful!  But, if you’re from Wentworth reading this, I appreciated the video coverage.  It is a work in progress as it is for other colleges and it certainly beats looking at just the final score or a box score.

Lance Greene Sparks Endicott Second-Half Rally Past Gordon

Park Thomas (16 points) shoots - Matt Kneece defends

Lance Greene - fourteen second-half points

(Beverly) Lance Greene sparked a second half rally as Endicott defeated Gordon, 68-62, on a student-free Tuesday night at Endicott.

The students from both schools are on semester break.

The win was Endicott’s third straight in conference play.  Both teams are now 5-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

The Scots (6-7) have lost two straight CCC games and things won’t get much easier on Thursday night when they visit Wentworth.  The Leopards knocked Salve Regina from the unbeaten conference ranks with a win tonight.

This was a game in which the Scots started slowly (7-0), but recovered and went ahead, 33-32, early in the second half.  6 ½ minutes into the second half the Scots led, 40-35, and things were looking good.

What happened next looked awfully familiar to those of us who had watched the Salve Regina game slip away in the second half.  Why?  Because once again the Scots and their followers saw a lead squandered because of a lengthy scoring drought.

That Gordon 5-point lead was long gone 10 ½ minutes later as the Scots 40-35 advantage became a 58-47 deficit.  That’s a 23-7 run!

Luke Hamilton (10 points) fires three

Gordon was 2-for-20 during that segment.  They missed seven straight, made 2-of-5, and then missed eight straight.

Endicott (10-4) took full advantage of the scoring lapse led by Lance Greene.  The talented junior guard had eleven points, two assists, and two rebounds to put the Gulls in front to stay.

A big part of the Gordon demise was their inability to hit triples.  They notched just 1-of-12 during the game-slipping-away part.  The rest of the time the triples fell at a 5-for-12 rate.  You can live by them………and you can die by them.

Endicott used a zone on occasion and it gave Gordon trouble.  It certainly took away David Dempsey’s usual inside moves as the Gulls had several shot blockers around the basket.  David collected thirteen points but needed fifteen shots to get there.

Jordan Kelly set a career mark in rebounds – eleven.

The Scots had a season low (nine) in turnovers including a remarkable ONE in the second half.  Wow to that!

Andre Makris had ten rebounds…….all in the second half.

David Dempsey (13 points) & Erik Callo (9 points)

Lance Greene had fourteen of his team-leading sixteen points in the second half.

Park Thomas paced Gordon with sixteen points making 2-of-4 three’s.

Senior Erik Callo had nine points, nine rebounds, and a good night of defense when matched up against David Dempsey.

Alex Carnes (8 points) and Luke Hamilton (10 points) were a very cool 2-for-14 from long range.  However, some of those missed long ones were late-game desperation attempts.

Jon Himottu made several spectacular blocks just before the first half ended.

(All the pictures above and below enlarge if you click on them.)

ball stuck

Alex Carnes shoots in traffic

David Dempsey shoots - Gull coach Phil Rowe watches

Hans Miersma shoots in the lane

John Henault

Alex Carnes gets facial

Lachlan Magee layup

Tanner McEntee & Jordan Kelly (11 rebounds)