Gordon defeats Babson 76-68 in NCAA tourney opener

Alex Carnes (20 points) shoots from in close

Park Thomas hit six free throws in the final 39 seconds

(Williamstown MA) It was a shock to some and a surprise to the rest of us.

But there was Gordon winning their first round game in the NCAA Division 3 men’s basketball tournament, 76-68, over Babson on Friday night at Williams College.

No Commonwealth Coast Conference team had ever won a first round game before the Scots (18-10) got it done.

Gordon trailed the Beavers (20-7) in the early going, 10-6, but then went on a game-turning 15-1 stretch to get up by ten (21-11).  That lead would get larger (32-16) but never smaller than five (70-65) the rest of the way.

The 15-1 separator segment was driven by three’s (Park Thomas, Shaun Roach, Dominic Paradis) and three jumps shots by Alex Carnes.

As you can see, the points were coming from everyone.  The Beavers chose not to press until late in the game giving Gordon plenty of time to run what has become an excellent half-court offense.  Yes there were 19 turnovers but there also were plenty of high percentage shots turning up.

Hans Miersma sets up inside

In the hard-to-top second half, Gordon made a remarkable 11 of 15 shots attempted.  The Beavers made runs to within six twice late in the game but the Scots responded with layups (Alex Carnes & Hans Miersma) to push Babson back.

Anyone at Williams sweating this one out in the final minutes will rave about Gordon’s foul shooting.  Terrific!  The team shot 19-for-21 in the game.  Park Thomas made all ten of his in the second half including six straight in the last 39 seconds.

Alex Carnes (20 points) topped the efficiency chart.  The 6-4 senior carried Gordon in the first half with thirteen points on 6-for-9 shooting.

Alex also spent time defending Babson’s Joey Flannery.  Joey was the ROY and POY in the NEWMAC this season.  Joey heated up in the second half and ended up with 17 points and 9 rebounds.

Joey Flannery

Watching Joey Flannery put up a lot of shots late reminded me of the Nichols game in which the Bison turned their scoring opportunities over to Ryan Sheehan.

Efficiency chart

Alex Carnes 22

Joey Flannery 19

Hans Miersma 18

Jason Dempsey 14

David Mack 11

Gordon 85

Babson 52

The Scots will play the host team (Williams) tonight.  Only some were shocked when Gordon defeated Babson.  Almost everyone will be in that state if the Scots find a way to defeat the 24-4 Ephs.  One player certain to require special attention will be Williams’ Mike Mayer.  Mike is 6-9/240 pounds and put up a 40 in Efficiency (25 points/15 rebounds) in last night’s Ephs’ win over Mitchell.

Game box

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

Dominic Paradis gets a shot

Alex Carnes shoots from long range

Jason Dempsey gets fouled

Eric Dean chases a loose ball

Kenny Ross

Richie Armand passes

Park Thomas drives

Hans Miersma free throw

Shaun Roach shoots three

Babson College Easily Defeats Gordon College in Men’s Basketball Opener

David Dempsey attracted numerous Babson defenders.

David Mack (4) puts the lid on a Hans Miersma shot.

(Wenham) The visiting Babson Beavers put some solid defense on Gordon and easily defeated the transitioning Scots, 59-38, before a home-opener crowd at the Bennett Center on Tuesday night.

Against Babson, the Scots were underwhelming on both ends of the court and with MIT (Thursday) and Salem State (next Tuesday) directly ahead things could well get darker before they get brighter.  MIT is ranked 10th nationally in the D3Hoops preseason poll.  Salem State is tough for Gordon every year.

The Scots are clearly a team in transition.  Ten players received playing time and six of them were newcomers to the Gordon program.

Babson was 10-15 last season but they looked like they will be a lot better than that in 2011-12.  They effectively defended the inside keeping the ball away from Hans Miersma.

David Dempsey saw plenty of defense too.  He had ten points but it took him ten shots to get there.  He added a game-leading nine rebounds to go with a game-leading seven turnovers. Last time we saw David in action he had 32 points against Anna Maria ending the Scots 2010-11 season at Paxton.

Russell Braithwaite (32) gets to the rim ahead of Luke Hamilton.

The Beavers limited Gordon to only 41 shots for the game.  The lowest total all last season was 39 shots against Bates.  Yes, the Babson defense was good but the Gordon offense just wasn’t creating many open shots in either half.

The Scot‘s lack of consistent defense was noticeable.  The zone defense was saved by Babson’s 3-for-16 from long range.  In man-to-man defense there were too many direct Beaver drives to the basket – weak primary defense as well as weak help defense.

Anyone at the Bennett Center will quickly tell you that the free throw shooting was off (3-for-11) as well.

My favorite stat to check is turnovers because these are wasted possessions that could have produced one, two, or possibly three points, yet didn‘t.  Last year the team averaged 19.5 turnovers per game.  First game in 2011-12 ended with the Scots failing to get off a shot in twenty possessions. This team must take better care of the ball.

Where did this game get away from the Scots?  Two places.

(1) In the first half, the score was tied 15-15 with ten minutes until halftime.  The rest of that half Gordon made one shot (one-for-seven) and committed eight turnovers and ended up trailing, 29-18, at halftime.  That’s three points in ten minutes!

(2) In the second half, our Scots closed to, 34-30, with 11+ minutes left.  The rest of the way?  Six turnovers and 2-for-11 shooting from the foul line and a, 59-38, loss.  That’s eight points in eleven minutes while Babson collected 25 points during the same segment.  This was certainly not a great defensive stretch for the Scots.

Enough of the gloom and doom.  The Scots could have scheduled several Cupcake U’s and had us all thinking CCC championship ahead after three games.  Instead, they face three tough non-league opponents to start the season and should come out bruised but better when they’re done.  There is plenty of room for improvement to be sure and it won’t happen overnight.  Patience will be required by all.

Newcomer Alex Carnes (4) shoots a layup over Alex Rudolph (21).

I’ve read Job recently and those who talk about the “patience of Job,” haven’t read the book.  He was anything but patient often ranting at God.  Later in a fine example of humor, God basically asked Job, “By the way, where were you when I was forming the universe?”

(Any of these pictures can be clicked on and they will enlarge to normal size.)

Taylor Bajema

Marcus McDermott - 10 points

Laura & Don Dempsey

Jason Dempsey (14)

James Ek (15) & Cooper Meyer (1)

Hans Miersma

half-time flip

Gordon student section

Austin Bentson

Bates Forces 32 Turnovers in Rout of Scots

Little for The Pit to cheer about in a 85-37 loss to Bates.

(Wenham) When members of The Pit start filing out long before a game is over you know things aren’t going well for the home team at the Bennett Center.

That surely was the case, Thursday night, as Gordon (2-4) got in with a talented Bates team (5-1).  The Scots hung in for a half (34-20), thanks to some gritty defense, but fell completely apart in the second half and lost, 85-37.

Shaun Roach tries his hand at point guard while Reid Christian (#4) defends.

Gordon’s offense was the really big problem on this evening.  Every possession seemed to be a turnover-in-waiting.  I counted 72 possessions.  The stat sheet shows an incredible 32 turnovers – 15 in the first half and 17 in the second half.  I suspect that no team at any level has ever won with that many turnovers.  Mix in a meager SIX assists for the game and you have a team with a malfunctioning offense.

However, it must be remembered that this team, beyond Greg, David, and Austin, is very inexperienced.  Things will get better but slowly.  The transition will be hard to watch at times (like this game) and quite possibly next game (MIT – #20 in D3 Hoops poll) on Saturday afternoon.

The big news about the next game is that before the MIT game there will be a ceremony to unveil the 2009-10 Commonwealth Coast Conference championship banner.  The ceremony is scheduled for 2:45PM and the five graduates from that team (Aaron, Brady, Ben, Timmy, and Jeff) are expected to attend.  It is an event that will bring back sweet memories for the Gordon faithful.

Now I’m supposed to switch back to a game that won’t be a pleasant memory! 

A 14-2 run over five minutes put the Bobcats ahead, 17-6, after 7 ½ minutes.  With a streak of six straight points Greg Walker (12 points) closed the gap single-handedly to 20-14.  However, Bates scored the last six points of the half and led 34-20.

Brian Ellis - 6-5 senior paced Bates with 16 points

Brian Ellis (16 points/2 steals) paced Bates.  Brian had 24 points last year in Gordon’s win in Lewiston.  Brian’s sixteen points this time came in just seventeen minutes of playing time.  The 6-5 senior is one of the better players in New England.

Bates really put up the points (51) in the second half.  Along the way they had a ten-point run, an 11-1 run, and an 18-1 run.  The Scots had no answers on offense or defense.

David Dempsey topped the Gordon scorers with 16 points.  I am sure that during preseason the talented sophomore was told that he would have to take on more responsibility on offense this season.  I doubt that he expected to end up being the point guard as much as he has, however.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Gordon used an aggressive zone defense at times and I thought it was effective in the early going. 

Luke Hamilton returned to action after missing the Babson game Tuesday night. 

Roy Ray made his debut for Gordon.  Luke Perkins registered his first two points.

Assistant coach Keith Krass gives halftime instruction to Caleb Perkins.

 

Fast Start and Late Rally Not Enough In Babson Loss

Anguilla beach will be missing a frequent walker.

(Newtown CT)  In a game against a team called, Beavers, you’d have to expect some chipping, wouldn’t you?  Was I in the sun too long?

Unfortunately, it was Gordon (2-3) unable to chip enough off the Babson (3-2) lead late that cost the Scots in a 71-61 loss in Tuesday night at Wellesley.

(I returned from Anguilla in time to hear the audio of the last two minutes of the Gordon/Babson game.  I am hoping to do some on-hand coverage of Thursday’s 7PM game versus Bates at the Bennett Center.)

The Beavers got themselves into a need to chip by getting down, 31-14, after 13+ minutes in the first half.  Your Scots were hitting and had few turnovers (four) during this good section.

Thirteen minutes of playing time later, Babson had completely whittled the lead to zip – 45-45. 

Greg Walker - paced Scots with 21 points

Babson then began to pull away (60-52 – 6:41 left) but the unpredictable Scots rallied close (63-59) on a Greg Walker (21 points/3 blocks) jumper with 1:25 to go.  Gordon even got the ball back (Shaun Roach steal) but couldn’t get closer.  Babson sealed things with eight straight free throws – they were 16-for-16 for the game. 

So the game ended (71-61) reading like a 10-point loss but it was hardly that. Credit the team from Wenham for making things interesting. 

Gordon continues to be hard to figure out.  In this one the shooting (51%) was terrific but those turnovers (20) just keep coming. 

Those turnovers seem to be the key.  How?  The Scots built up the 17-point lead with just four giveaways in the first 13 ½ minutes. Take care of the ball and good things are possible.

A key name missing from the box score was Luke Hamilton.  The young sharpshooter might have been a difference-maker in this one.  I should be able to update his status after the Bates game.

All five games in December are at the Bennett Center.  The team has the month to get ready for Commonwealth Coast Conference play.  Have you figured out yet, five games in, how they’ll do in CCC action?

Bates beat Babson by fourteen, so Thursday’s game will involve another tough opponent for our work-in-progress team. 

No one asked about Anguilla but if you ever get a chance……book it!

boxscore