Sam Johnson (17 points) was part of an inside game that tallied 48 points in the paint.
Jake Haar (18 points) netted six 3’s in the first half.
(Wenham MA) Gordon dominated Elms inside and defeating the Blazers, 83-69, on a rainy season-opener at the Bennett Center on Tuesday night.
The best rebounding tandem (Sam Johnson & Garrisson Duvivier) in the Commonwealth Coast Conference last year was at it again to start the 2016-17 season.
Senior Sam Johnson had fifteen double/double’s last year. Against the undersized Blazers, Sam added to his career total with a solid 17 points and 22 rebounds.
The twenty-two rebounds was one shy of his GC best which was twenty-three against Nichols last season.
Sam’s lofty totals were part of an excellent thirty-seven in Efficiency.
Garrisson Duvivier (23 points) scores despite Chris Connolly holding his arm
Garrisson also found plenty of space inside and led all scorers with twenty-three points.
Elms tried early on to limit the Scots inside but that just opened the outside to Jake Haar. Jake reached the “where’s-the-fire-extinguisher” level with six treys (18 points) in the first half.
The Blazers lived long-range and connected ten times. Symon Smith and Conny Ihearahu each tallied twenty points for the team from Chicopee (MA).
The team from the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) was done in by scoring droughts in each half.
Elms had their only lead (8-7) with 17:57 left in the first half. Within the next 2+ minutes the Scots ran off ten straight points on Garrisson’s layup and dunk, Sam’s two layups, and Noah Szilagyi’s jumper.
Jaren Yang floats over Symon Smith
In the second half, a trey by DeAngelo Cousar brought Elms within three (52-49) with 17:24 remaining. In the next three minutes two layups by Garrisson, two by Jaren Yang, and one by Sam turned a close game into a double-digit GC spread.
The Scots head out to the Clarkson Tournament in Potsdam (NY) on Friday/Saturday.
A good crowd had a chance to see all twelve players on the team take part in at least some action. We got our first looks at AJ Terry and Sam Traicoff.
I liked the way GC handled zone/man pressure in the backcourt.
The Scots had nineteen assisted baskets.
Efficiency Chart (subtracts negative stats from positive stats)
Sam Johnson 37 (22 rebs/17 pts)
Garrisson Duvivier 23 (23 pts/9 rebs)
Symon Smith 18 (20 pts/3 assists)
Conny Ihearahu 17 (20 pts/5 steals)
Jake Haar 17 (18 pts)
Conny Ihearahu tries to stop Sam Johnson
A driving rainstorm delayed the arrival of the Elms team.
Elms opened last season against Endicott and only lost by four points.
Eric Demers had a cast on his hand after injuring himself in practice.
Former Scots Greg Walker and Jason Dempsey were in the house.
I saw one soccer player studying a science (?) book during the breaks in the action. That’s dedication to the academics!
The next Gordon home game will be November 22nd against Salem State.
(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)
Symon Smith finds an opening
Dylan Marshall and Sam Johnson defend
Symon Smith (20 points) gets a layup
Eric Demers
Luke Meyer tries to score over 6-6 DeAngelo Cousar
Graham Tienhaara
Freshman Sam Traicoff
Garrisson Duvivier dunks
Not much room for Elms in close to the basket
Sam Johnson finishes
Dimitri Tessier picks Josh Ribeiro’s pocket.
Freshman AJ Terry finishes
Writing Scots 