Eric Demers had a career day connecting on twelve shots in a 31-point performance
Geoff Gray was one of several Emerson defenders who tried to cool off the GC sophomore
(Wenham MA) “When Eric is shooting the ball the way he was today, there aren’t too many teams that are going to beat us,” explained Gordon coach Tod Murphy after the Scots routed Emerson, 89-62.
The “Eric” Coach Murphy was referring to was sophomore Eric Demers who had a couldn’t-miss Saturday afternoon with a career-high 31 points.
The Lions (6-5) put at least three different defenders (by my count) on Eric with no noticeable decline in his production. The Falmouth (MA) grad made only three from long range but had nine other makes off drives and jump shots.
The Scots (4-4) broke away from a 12-7 deficit in the first five minutes and followed Eric’s eighteen-point, first-half to go on a 42-20 run over the final fifteen minutes of that half.
Josh Ribeiro pressured by two Emerson defenders
I expected that Emerson would cut into GC’s halftime 49-32 spread in the second half, but I was wrongly assuming that Eric would cool off. He didn’t, and his additional thirteen points led the Scots (4-4) into leads of over twenty points.
On this afternoon Emerson had no defensive answers and when Eric left the game for good, with eleven minutes remaining, Gordon was in front, 71-43.
“It was a great game to end with before the Christmas break,” added Coach Murphy. “It was truly a team win with everyone on the roster getting to play in front of the home crowd.”
I told Coach Murphy at the outset of my interview that he was really going to have to work hard to find anything he didn’t like in the win over Emerson. He laughed and said, “Coaches can always find something to point to that needs improvement. I still think that our defense needs to improve significantly.”
With the outside game cooking, the Scots inside game wasn’t in the heavy demand it usually is. Coach Murphy was quick to praise post-player Garrisson Duvivier: “Garrisson is such a team player that he saw how hot Eric was and kept feeding him the ball.”
Garrisson, himself, did get a terrific pass from teammate Josh Ribeiro that set him up for a crowd-pleasing jam.
Garrisson Duvivier dunks and teammate Eric Demers reacts
Geoff Gray had 21 points and 9 rebounds for Emerson
Junior Geoff Gray (Newton South) maintained the team-leading stats he came in with getting twenty-one points and pulling down nine rebounds. The rest of the team from Boston suffered through a dismal afternoon.
Efficiency chart
Eric Demers 30
Geoff Gray 21
Garrisson Duvivier 19 (10 rebounds)
Josh Ribeiro 15 (8 points,4 assists)
Gordon 105
Emerson 50
Two Gordon freshman put up nice numbers: Parker Omslaer had six rebounds while Josh Crutchfield had six assists.
Will Lantier rejects an inside attempt by Garrisson Duvivier
Emerson fourth-year coach Bill Curley is the former Boston College star who, like Coach Murphy, had an NBA career.
The Gordon team will be getting together after Christmas for a flight to California to face Redlands (December 28) and Whittier (December 30).
The Dempsey brothers (Dave & Jason) took this one in as well as Hans Miersma.
No sign of Emerson alums Jay Leno and Sam Presti (GM at Oklahoma City) in the house.
Box from the game
(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge when you click on them.)
Eric Demers
Josh Crutchfield leads a break
Garrisson Duvivier positions for a rebound battle with John Geary and Jack O’Connor
Matt Valles spins in for two
Eric Demers gets open for a pass
Jack O’Connor looks to score as Jaren Yang defends
Josh Crutchfield drives on Jared Jackson
Josh Crutchfield had six assists
Parker Omslaer collects one of his six rebounds
Steve Vampatella applies some defense
Cody Hunt (5 points)
Brett Bowman
Writing Scots 