Gordon defeats Wentworth 61-58

Michael Makiej (22) puts back the game winner

Kevin Fernandez (18 points)

(Wenham MA) Have yourself a final minute, Michael Makiej!

The Gordon sophomore had a steal, an offensive rebound that led to a layup, and a blocked shot, all in the last minute to push the Scots past Wentworth, 61-58, at Kanas Court on Saturday afternoon.

“Michael, when he’s active is really, really hard to stop at either end of the court,” said GC coach Tod Murphy afterwards.

Treyton Tebbs on the floor for Scots

The Leopards (2-4) led most of the way. Gordon, however, was close enough to take the lead in the second half briefly (40-39) on a Zach Quanico three and later tie the score (53-53) on a Treyton Tebbs layup.

A Trey Carrier (12 points) jump shot gave the team from Boston a, 58-55, lead with 3:40 remaining.

Wentworth didn’t score another point in their final seven possessions.  Instead, the Leopards had five turnovers and two missed three’s.

“They made the plays in crunch time, and we didn’t,” said WIT coach Arlen Galloway post-game.

Despite the slew of pointless possessions, the Leopards still had a chance to send the game into overtime on their final possession.

Wentworth attacked the Gordon zone with quick passes in the final twelve seconds and got the ball to Kevin Fernandez (18 points) on the right wing. 

Kevin Fernandez receives a pass on the wing

Kevin appeared set up for a wide-open, potentially game-tying three.  But Michael Makiej hustled to the perimeter and deflected the shot to seal this one for Gordon.

Michael Makiej hustles out to deflect the final shot

Garrett Sattazahn (16 points)

“I definitely think he (Kevin Fernandez) would have made that shot,” recalled Michael.

“Michael made plays when we needed them today,” said Coach Murphy.  Michael’s basket after an offensive rebound gave Gordon the lead for good.

“They made some big plays late and we didn’t,” said Coach Galloway.  “We have a lot of guys who’ve made those big plays in the past. We’ve got to be ready to bounce back.”

Gordon (2-1) was buried by Endicott a few days ago.  “This was a little bit better than the last one,” laughed Coach Murphy.  “I’m not sure, however, what’s happened to our offense.”

Parker Omslaer surrounded by Leopards

Garrett Sattazahn paced the Scots with sixteen points including consecutive free throws in the final minute.

Both coaches were pleased with their defenses.

“I thought we did a good job today defensively,” said Coach Galloway.  “This game could have gone either way.  We have to stay positive.”

“To be able to win a game where we can say defense won it for us is a good thing,” added Coach Murphy.

Trey Carrier (12 points)

The Leopards have a reputation of extending possessions and keeping scores lower than usual.

“To grind out a win against a team that is a grinding type of team is something we can be pleased about,” said Coach Murphy.

Three games in, Coach Murphy wasn’t too concerned about the lack of points in the last two games.  “We’ll do better,” he said.  “We’re going to be fine.  Offensively, we’ll get it going again.”

Senior Parker Omslaer had twelve points and nine rebounds for the Scots.

Caleb Scott gets position in the lane

Wentworth had a 25-point second half while Gordon had a 26-point first half.

“Twenty-five points in a half is never going to be good enough,” said Coach Galloway.

“I told the team at halftime that we needed to go out there in the second half and have some fun,” recalled Coach Murphy.  “They came off the court at the end of the half with their heads down.  I told them that basketball is the greatest sport in the world, and they should go out and enjoy playing it.  I told them that they were too good to be playing the way they were.”

“We have a lot of room to grow,” said Michael Makiej afterwards.  “This is only our third game.  We’ve lost a lot of time because of sickness.”

Kevin Fernandez finds an opening in the Gordon zone defense

Bryce Smith fouled in the lane

Coach Murphy: “Bryce (Smith) is such an intelligent player.  He was the one telling me that we had two fouls to give at the end.”

Coach Galloway: “We’re happy to be playing basketball after not playing at all last year.”

Next home game for the Scots is Thursday night (7:30) against Eastern Nazarene.  Before there was Endicott, Gordon’s biggest rival was ENC. 

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

Gordon celebrates

Dempseys in the house

Bryce Smith guarded by Conor Rubenskas

Parker Omslaer guarded by Thomas Hacker

Garrett Sattazahn in the lane

Down twenty in the second half Gordon rallies past Wentworth 81-77

Eric Demers (32 points) in a crowd of Leopards

Kevin Fernandez 15 points) guarded by Jusin Yu

(Wenham MA) Did you ever watch a game on TV in which your team is playing so badly that you decide to change the channel and watch something else?

Later, you learn that your team somehow transformed themselves into a winner while you were away…….and you missed it!

There were no channels to be changed tonight at the Bennett Center. The Scots went down ten points (36-26) in the first half and twenty points (60-40) in the second half to Wentworth before rallying to pull out an exciting, 81-77 victory on Wednesday night.

“They were picking us apart,” understated Gordon coach Tod Murphy.

The final thirteen minutes of the second half, however, turned completely the Scots way.

Garrett Sattazahn (23 points) had a career game for Gordon

The shooting, the defense, and the recently returned GC students all hit the “on” button in the second half and the Scots got an impressive win.

“We just kept fighting no matter what,” said Garrett Sattazahn afterwards.  “Coach always tells us not to give up.”

Eric Demers (32 points) and Garrett Sattazahn (23 points) totaled thirty-seven of those points in the second half.  Eric had twenty and Garrett seventeen.

Eric has done thirty or better eight times this season.  For Garrett it was the first time he’s reached the twenty’s.

“Garrett got really, really hot and had a great second half,” said Wentworth coach Arlen Galloway post-game.  “That certainly played into their comeback.”

The Leopards (11-5) looked awfully good in the first twenty-seven minutes.

Parker Omslaer and Stephen Azums (16 points & 11 rebounds)

“We played good zone offense,” recalled Coach Galloway.  “We moved the ball and we trusted ourselves.  We were efficient and smart on offense.  We didn’t have too many turnovers and built a good lead……….then the tide turned.”

Coach Murphy saw his leaky zone defense as the problem in the early going: “I knew that we had been playing terribly on defense.  It was so lackluster compared to the second half in our last game against Roger Williams.  In that one we defended like crazy and got a win.”

Tonight Wentworth had a comfortable 65-50 lead with 10:18 left.

“Coach called a timeout and he said, ‘Let’s go man and let’s get it going,” recalled Garrett.  And that was exactly what happened.

Parker Omslaer battles for a rebound

The Scots (8-6) switched to man-to-man and (6-11) Parker Omslaer took over the inside.  The uncontested layups ended for the visitors.

“Parker’s offense wasn’t very good, but he turned the game around defensively,” said Coach Murphy.

Gordon went on an 18-2 run over the next four minutes and vaulted to a 68-67 lead with six minutes left.

“We showed a lot of heart making that comeback,” said Coach Murphy.

During the surge of points, Eric had two three’s, while Justin Yu and Garrett had one each.  Justin’s triple came after the Scots hustled for two offensive rebounds (Garrett & AJ Terry) and extended the possession.

The Leopards would regain the lead by a point but free throws (Garrett, AJ, and Eric) in the final minute clinched the win for GC.

Kyle Henseler (17 points)

Wentworth had four players in double figures; Kyle Henseler (17), Stephen Azums (16), Kevin Fernandez (15), and Trey Carrier (12).

Coach Galloway: “We weren’t comfortable at all in the last ten minutes.  Their man-to-man worked really well.  The matchups made sense for them.  Handling the loss of the lead can be difficult emotionally.”

Coach Murphy: “Eric did what he ordinarily does…..hit big shots.  The comeback happened because we’ve got tough-minded kids.  Garrett hit shot after shot.  He was the one kind of leading the timeouts trying to get the guys going.  He hates losing.”

New scoreboards were in place for tonight’s game.

Wentworth lost in the final minute against Western New England in their previous game.

The Leopards have only one senior (Stephen Azums).

David Massillon played in his third game of the season

Tonight’s matchup featured contrasting styles; Gordon led the Commonwealth Coast Conference in offense (89 points per game) while Wentworth led the conference in defense (69 points per game).

The Scots are now 3-3 in the CCC.  Wentworth is 4-3.

Gordon hosts Salve Regina on Saturday.

Stephen Azums had a double/double for WIT.  Eric Demers collected ten rebounds to register his second D/D for the 2019-20 Scots.

Box from the game

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Garrett Sattazahn hit five three’s

AJ shoots free throws

Battle for a rebound

David Massillon and Stephen Azums

Trey Carrier (12 points) and Eric Demers

Tyler Lennon puts up a runner

Zach Bennett in close

Eric Demers shoots free throws late in the game

Eric Demers shoots in traffic

Garrett Sattazahn sets up Eric Demers for a layup

Josh Crutchfield

Josh Crutchfield drives past Tommy Dooling

Kevin Fernandez

Kyle Henseler and AJ Terry

 

 

Gordon advances after 94-77 win against Wentworth

Noah Szilagyi guards Tyler Lennon

Kyle Henseler shoots from in front of the Gordon student section

(Wenham MA) Wentworth’s record wasn’t that impressive but they had one-possession losses to both #1 Nichols and #2 Gordon.

No question that a quarterfinals matchup with the Leopards presented plenty of risks.

But tonight, the Scots (22-4) were excellent on both ends of the court and defeated Wentworth, 94-77,

Gordon will host Roger Williams on Thursday night at the Bennett Center.

The Scots were desperate for a restart after finishing the season with losses to Nichols and Endicott.

Parker Omslaer had nine rebounds

“I told the team after the Endicott game that we would only be playing one more game if we played selfishly like we just did,” said GC coach Todd Murphy afterwards.  “The guys met on Sunday night and talked about it.”

The seven assists that the Scots totaled against Endicott were more than equaled in just the first half against Wentworth.  The game total was sixteen.

Eric Demers (30) and Garrisson Duvivier (22) led the Gordon scoring but on this, share-the-ball evening, the other three starters contributed significantly.

Noah Szilagyi had seventeen points on seven-for-eleven shooting.  The senior is shooting nearly 65% during the past five games.  Noah also added four assists against WIT.

Parker Omslaer had twelve points and nine rebounds.  He missed only one shot.

Ball off the court

Jack Haar made two 3’s and had two assists.

“There was a lot more ball movement and sharing the ball,” explained Coach Murphy.  “When we do that, we’re at our best.  It’s the only way we’re going to win a championship.”

The visitors didn’t go quietly into the night. They were still hanging around (46-43) at halftime.

“I thought we played pretty well in the first half, but we weren’t getting enough stops,” said Noah Szilagyi.  “We would go on runs but they would always counter them.”

Kyle Henseler had a big night for the Leopards

That continued into the second half.  The Scots went up by nine (52-43) but back came Wentworth on a three by Kyle Henseler (24 points) to narrow the lead to 54-50.

It was still four (60-56) with 12:48 left.  Then Eric Demers scored a layup and hit a three and the GC lead returned to nine (65-56).

Layups by Zach Bergeon and Stephen Azums (16 points) and the Gordon lead was down to five (65-60) with 10:38 remaining.

The Scots finally broke out into a double-digit lead (72-60) after two Eric Demers free throws, a Josh Crutchfield three, and a Parker Omslaer layup.

Jake Haar puts up a three over Gavin Keough

The team from Boston (MA) couldn’t get within ten points over the final 8+ minutes.

“I thought we wore them down in the second half,” said Noah.  “The second half defense was what won the game for us.”

The tighter GC zone limited Wentworth to two made three’s in the second half.

“We couldn’t contain (Kyle) Henseler,” said Coach Murphy, “but we did a better job on Gavin Keough.”  To call the defense on Gavin Keough, “better,” certainly understates tonight’s defense which allowed Gavin no made three’s when he had seven the last time he was in the Bennett Center.

Eric Demers (30 points) in close

By my figuring (unverified by the Gordon Athletic Department), Eric Demers passed two more former players (Woody Anderson & Doug Lindland) and is now third on the GC all-time scoring list with 1647 points.

Garrisson Duvivier, who moved into second place in late January, has now reached 1880 points.  That puts him only twenty-three points away from being Gordon’s top all-time scorer.  Could a semi-finals win and a record-setting performance be taken care of by the end of the game on Thursday night?

Noah on making the CCC 3^rd team: “I wasn’t really surprised by it, but it sure made me happy.  I had never set personal goals before, but I did in November and one of them was to earn CCC recognition.”

Garrisson Duvivier (22 points) blocks out

Coach Murphy: “I don’t know how we scored 94 points against a really good defensive team like Wentworth.  We’ll be back in the gym tomorrow night getting ready for Roger Williams.  I’m looking forward to it.  It will be fun,”

Good active crowd again at the Bennett Center.  There’s room for more on Thursday night.

Box from the game

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Tyler Lennon (3) up for a block

Ball in the lane

Garrisson Duvivier fires up the crowd late in the game

Gavin Keough gets to the rim

Loose ball

Noah Szilagyi (17 points) puts up a floater

Parker Omslaer (12 points) shoots over Stephen Azums

 

 

 

Gordon drops 2nd straight with 80-71 loss at Endicott

Gordon coach Tod Murphy and Endicott coach Kevin Bettencourt after today’s game

Keith Brown (25 points) and Garrisson Duvivier (20 points)

(Beverly MA) The atmosphere was at the tournament level.

Large crowd and a persistent noise that elevated or dropped as each possession ended.

Fortunately for Gordon, the tournament atmosphere wasn’t the real thing.  They did lose to Endicott (80-71) on Saturday afternoon but it was “only” a regular season game.

The Commonwealth Coast Conference tourney begins on Tuesday: Gordon (21-4) hosts Wentworth while Western New England will be coming to Endicott (17-8).

In early January, when the Scots faced Nichols and Endicott in back-to-back games, there was reason for concern.  Nichols had ten straight wins versus Gordon while Endicott had eliminated the Scots from the CCC tournament the previous year.

Senior Joe Shehadi puts up a three. The Gulls were 17-for-36.

But Gordon won those games and the victories became part of a fifteen-game winning streak.

But that was in January.

Now, in February the repeat of the back-to-backs hasn’t gone well.  The Scots carry a two-game losing streak as they head into the tournament on Tuesday night at the Bennett Center.

“We’ve got a very good team,” said Gordon coach Tod Murphy after the loss.  “We’ve had a bad week.  If we’ll stay together and play together, we’ll win together.”

Endicott came into today’s game on a two-game slide after losses to Roger Williams and Western New England.

Garrisson Duvivier in for two

“We’ve had a couple of tough losses,” explained Endicott coach Kevin Bettencourt,  “but we had answers today.  It hasn’t always been that way.”

The large Senior’s Day crowd saw the top two teams in the conference in 3-point shooting percentage.

On this afternoon, however, the long-range shot was pure gold for the Gulls (17-for-36) and fool’s gold (4-for-20) for the team from Wenham.

“We didn’t defend in the first half,” said Coach Murphy describing his team’s zone defense.  “We gave them too many 3-point shots.  Most of them were open looks.”

Parker Omslaer guarded by Matt McDevitt

Sophomore Matt McDevitt (20 points) connected six times (in eleven tries) from beyond the arc.  Matt had a similar performance in the CCC tourney last year against Gordon. However, in EC’s January loss to GC, Matt was 0-for-6 on three’s and finished with only two points.  Hard to figure the extremes!

Much of today’s game was played at the one-possession level.  Gordon, however, was usually the team needing a good possession to catch up.

Because of suspect outside shooting, the Scots concentrated on creating offense through Garrisson Duvivier in close.  With less concern over long shots, the Gulls could send help to protect the inside.

Garrisson still managed twenty points against the tight defense of seniors Vinny Clifford and Nick Thibeault.

Garrisson Duvivier and Vinny Clifford

“Garrisson is one of the best players we’ve had to guard in my five years,” said Coach Bettencourt. “Vinny/Nick did great.  He had to work for everything he got.”

With 4:10 left, the Gulls had a slender, 72-70, lead.

Where the game was lost? The Scots had just one point the rest of the way and it wasn’t for lack of opportunities.  Four missed three’s and two turnovers ruined any GC comeback plans.

The Gulls, on the other hand, turned up good offense down the stretch.  A layup (Matt McDevitt) and two free throws (Jordan Pettway) boosted the EC lead to six (76-70) and then two killer three’s (Keith Brown & Vinny Clifford) sealed the deal for the home team.

Eric Demers (18 points) loose for a three

“Garrisson and Eric (Demers) didn’t look like they had their legs today,” said Coach Murphy.  “I’ve probably been playing them too many minutes but it’s the end of the season and we need guys to dig down deep right now.”

Junior Keith Brown led Endicott with twenty-five points on 10-for-15 shooting.  He also handed out five assists.  The Gulls finished with twenty assists.

Garrisson Duvivier put thirteen rebounds together with his twenty points.

Rough afternoon for junior Eric Demers.  Despite getting eighteen points, it took him twenty-one shots to get there.  He was a very uncharacteristic 1-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Noah Szilagyi (15 points) shoots over Keith Brown

Senior Noah Szilagyi continued his hot shooting making six of nine attempts for fifteen points.

Endicott honored seniors; John Homsey, Nick Thibeault, Vinny Clifford, and Joe Shehadi before the game.

Both teams had plenty of vocal fan support on hand.

Coach Bettencourt: “We’re hoping to carry this momentum into next week.”

Coach Murphy: “We can still go out there and win three in a row and get to the NCAA tournament.”

Delighted to see the Gordon women pull the upset of the year in the CCC with a 62-60 thriller over first-place Endicott.  It was in February of 2005 that Gordon’s last win over EC happened in the CCC semifinals.  Fourteen years!

Box from the game

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Brooke Dyson after Gordon defeated Endicott for the first time in FOURTEEN years.

David Massillon jams on Nick Thibeault

Eric Demers defended by John Homsey (25)

Eric Demers looks to pass

Garrisson Duvivier looks for an opening against Vinny Clifford

Garrisson Duvivier defended by Vinny Clifford

Joe Shehadi and Josh Crutchfield

Jordan Pettway

Jordan Pettway and Eric Demers

Nick Thibeault, Garrisson Duvivier, and Matt McDevitt (34)

Noah Szilagyi tries to get away from Matthew Catizone

Vinny Clifford and Keith Brown block out Garrisson Duvivier

 

 

 

 

Gordon takes a close one from Wentworth 73-71

Eric Demers had 34 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and no turnovers to lead the Gordon attack

Happy ending for the Bennett Center crowd

(Wenham MA) Wentworth did everything but win the game.

The Leopards (6-14) recovered from a poor start, hung around, and had the last shot in a 2-point game.

But recovering, hanging around, and taking the last shot wasn’t enough and Gordon escaped with a 73-71 win on Wednesday night.

“Winning ugly is better than losing pretty,” said GC coach Tod Murphy afterwards.  “I still would have liked a little more breathing room at the end.”

Eric Demers (23 points in the first half) soars over Tyler Lennon

Eric Demers (34 points) responded from an 8-point game versus UNE to put his best offensive numbers of the season together.

Eric carried the Scots (18-2) in the first half with twenty-three points.  He ended up with three assists, three steals and zero turnovers for the night.

In the game between these two teams in November in Boston the Leopards struggled on offense losing, 66-47.  WIT didn’t have ANY player in double figures in that one.  But that was then!  This time Stephen Azums registered seventeen points and an amazing twenty-three rebounds.  Teammate Gavin Keough drilled seven 3’s including five in the second half and finished with twenty-one points.

“Our defense needed to be more intense,” explained Noah Szilagyi.  “At times we’re super active and super scrappy.  But #34 (Gavin Keough) was making shots and busting up our zone.  When you see the same guy making 3’s it’s not a good sign for your perimeter defense.”

“We’re going to have close games with good teams,” said Coach Murphy.  “This prepares us for those games.  We have to use this as a learning experience.”

Garrisson Duvivier was a bigger part of the the Gordon offense in the second half

In the early going Gordon could make shots from the perimeter.  It can be fool’s gold out there and a team can be drawn away from other options.

“We didn’t attack the basket in the first half,” said Coach Murphy.  “We had only two free throws.  We had a lot more in the second half.  Garrisson is arguably the best player in the conference and he had no points and three shots in the first half.  Garrisson still didn’t have an efficient game offensively but we did what we had to do to win.”

Garrisson collected his 16^th double/double of the season – 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Leopards caught the Scots (56-56) with 9:02 left.  They still were even with Gordon (66-66) with 3:48 remaining.

But what separates a team with eighteen wins from one with six wins is what they do in the tight finishes.  The visitors, on this evening, had several unproductive possessions while Gordon’s Garrisson Duvivier made a jump shot and hit two free throws. David Massillon provided the final point with a free throw (73-71) with nineteen seconds left.

Freshman Noah Bice (20) about to take the last shot of the game

There was still time for WIT to tie/win the game but Noah Bice’s very good look (see the picture) missed at the buzzer to seal it for Gordon.

Noah Szilagyi (16 points) in the lane

“We fell into a lull after the hot start and never seemed to wake up out of it,” said Noah.  “At times we rushed shots and weren’t working as a team on offense.”

“It didn’t look like we had fresh legs despite being off for eight days,” said Coach Murphy, “but we did win a tough game.”

The Scots are 10-0 at home this season.

Noah was 7-for-10 tonight.  He entered the game in 5^th place in the conference in field-goal percentage (55.9%).

Avelino Damoura (5) and Noah Bice (20)

I thought that Nichols might have trouble tonight with Western New England, as Gordon did, but it didn’t happen.  The Bison and the Scots each have one loss in the conference.

Gordon will be in Bristol (RI) on Saturday to face Roger Williams.  The Scots literally stole a win from RW when they visited the Bennett Center.

Noah on life after Gordon: “I’m filling out a lot of job applications.  I’m trying to land a job with the Patriots with Richie Armand.  I’ve been talking with them.  I’m trying to stay in basketball and may go back to Denver to coach with some of the people I know there.”

Box from the game

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Garrisson calls for time

Garrisson Duvivier at the line late in the game

Eric Demers drives past Kyle Henseler

David Massillon at the line in the last minute

David Massillon (15) in the open floor

Kyle Henseler

Joseph Hecker encounters Garrisson Duvivier in the lane

Garrisson Duvivier unleashes a no-look pass

Gordon defense contains Wentworth 66-47

AJ Terry – set career numbers against Wentworth

(Amesbury MA) Gordon (4-1) started the Commonwealth Coast Conference part of their schedule by defeating Wentworth, 66-47, on Wednesday night in Boston.

The Leopards (1-4) are the masters of long possessions.  The strategy is to get high percentage shots and limit the other teams time of possession.

It can work against teams that are unwilling to play long-possession defense and who want to rush into shots down the other end.

Eric Demers led the Scots with twenty points

Tonight, Gordon rushed into shots, but their defense was anything but unwilling.  It was very active. It protected the inside and, on this night, reduced Wentworth to long-range attempts. That didn’t go very well for the home team.

The Leopards missed twenty-seven of their thirty-three 3-pointers.  Many of those attempts came after seconds ticked off in a possession.

Jake Haar’s 3-pointer with 2 ½ minutes left in the first half put the Scots ahead by double digits (32-20) and on this night the Leopards were unable to recover.

When was the last time you saw this in a college boxscore?  Wentworth two top scorers (Kyle Henseler & Stephen Azums) each finished with eight points.

Eric Demers paced GC with twenty points.  He and AJ Terry did most of the Gordon scoring in the second half.

AJ had career numbers in points (8), rebounds (6), and assists (3).

Eric’s twenty points moves him into 16th place on the Gordon All-Time scoring list (1149 points) one point ahead of Hans Miersma.

Gordon had way too many turnovers (17) to suit me but on the other hand they had 17 assists.  There was more than enough good and not-so-good to go around.

Senior Noah Szilagyi has thrived in Gordon’s zone and has scored at least ten points in all five games this season.

Parker Omslaer collected ten points against a very good Stephen Azums.

Stephen did get his average (11.3) in rebounds with twelve of them.  On the other end, things were tougher because of Gordon’s zone.  Most of his points came off offensive rebounds.

Garrisson Duvivier had similar issues for Gordon.  GD got past his rebounds average (14.3) with sixteen.  Down the other end?  Not so good.  More turnovers (6) than points (5).

The good news?  Gordon had plenty of other scorers to pick up the slack.  And with the way the Scots were playing defense, there wasn’t a lot of slack to be picked up.

Next for Gordon is another CCC game.  Winless Curry will be at the Bennett Center on Saturday afternoon.  Tonight, Endicott had 46-18 lead on Curry at halftime!

This is a trap game of the highest order.  Beware!

My intentions are to make an appearance Saturday.  I will have covered a Super Bowl (Division 8) that morning.

Box from the game

 

 

 

Gordon controls Wentworth 83-62

Eric Demers (26 points) was covered by one of the CCC’s best defenders

Stephen Azums had nineteen points for Wentworth

(Wenham MA) For fourteen minutes Wentworth had the game under control.  The tempo was deliberate with plenty of passes and cuts.  The score was low and close.

But with the score tied 22-22, Gordon went on to finish the final six minutes of the first half at a pace more to their liking and that tie score changed into a 40-25 halftime lead for the Scots.

The second half was more of the same and Gordon put the Leopards away in convincing fashion, 83-62, on Tuesday night at the Bennett Center.

The win keeps the Scots (13-7/9-4) in a tie with Endicott for second place in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

Wentworth (13-7/8-5) slides back to third in the CCC.

Garrisson Duvivier (15 points) powers to the hoop

In the first meeting with Wentworth, Gordon had a twenty-five point lead in the second half but the Leopards put a terrific comeback together to make things tight at the end.

“Tonight’s game looked very similar to the first time we played them,” recalled GC coach Tod Murphy afterwards.  “We had a big lead at halftime.  Bumped it up to twenty-five but this time we didn’t give away twenty of it as we did last time.”

The Leopards tonight were within thirteen (48-35) with 16:34 left in the second half before Gordon ran nine straight points to gain serious separation (57-35) 4 ½ minutes later.  On this evening, there was no WIT comeback.

There were plenty of positives for the home team.

Eric Demers, held to thirteen points in Boston, had eighteen points in the first half alone and ended up with twenty-six for the night.

Senior Jaren Yang gets two

It looked like it might be a tough game for the GC sophomore when Wentworth put last season’s CCC Defensive Player-of-the-Year (Sam Knollmeyer) on Eric.  Not on this night.  Eric had two fouls on the WIT senior in no time.

Eric was a key part of the Gordon surge in the last six minutes of the first half with a jump shot, two layups, and four free throws.

Jake Haar, known as “Ice,” became “Fire” in the final 1:24 of the first half with a free throw, a jump shot, and a three-point shot.

The breakaway segment (nine straight points) in the second half, that pushed the GC lead into the twenties, featured a layup by senior Jake Hart, a 3 and a jump shot by Eric Demers, and a layup by freshman Parker Omslaer.

The Gordon defense was impressive.  “I keep telling our guys that we’ve got to create our offense in the defensive end,” said Coach Murphy.  “We did that tonight.  We got some stops.  We got some rebounds.  We ran it down the floor.”

The Scots also had some steals.  The Leopards had sixteen turnovers.  Six of them happened because Garrisson Duvivier reached a career high in steals.

Garrisson Duvivier sets up teammate Noah Szilagyi for a layup

The best stat of the night?  I am very much interested in turnovers.  Tonight the Scots had only seven!  That’s taking good care of the ball.

You want to beat Wentworth you better be able to control Jason Ganley.  Jason set a school scoring record (39 points) against GC last year.  Tonight the defense of Matt Valles, Josh Ribeiro, and Graham Tianhaara limited Jason to eight points (He averages 20.7 points per game) on 3-for-13 shooting.

“Graham gave us great minutes after all of our top four bigs had two fouls each,” added Coach Murphy.

Defeating Wentworth twice in a season is certainly a pleasant change after the Leopards had won seven of the previous nine meetings.

Both teams had gone 5-2 since they last met three weeks ago.

Stephen Azums puts up a shot

Sophomore Stephen Azums reached nineteen points for WIT. Stephen leads the CCC in field goal percentage.  He had a season-high twenty-seven points in the Leopards win at UNE.

Eric Demers has averaged 27.5 points per game since the Wentworth loss.  “Eric, when he’s on, is really tough to stop,” said Coach Murphy.  “I know that he takes some shots that he shouldn’t, but I’ve got to let him take those because he’s so good right now.”

One thing that I’ve noticed in Eric’s play lately, is that those who choose to defend him on the perimeter get caught by his drives to the basket.  He has been drawing fouls and has made 33-of-36 free throw attempts in the last eight games.

Garrisson Duvivier ended his streak of double/doubles at eight.  He had nine rebounds.  He did set a career record for steals and, also had three blocks.

Saturday ends Gordon’s four-game homestand.  They will be facing Western New England.  Last time the teams met the Bears celebrated Mikey Pettway’s 1000th points and a 101-83 victory.

Meghan Foley (31 points) was 8-for-8 from the line in their OT win over Wentworth

Enjoyed seeing the GC women’s team win again.  It has been the best season they’ve had in a while.  Meghan Foley had thirty-one points versus Wentworth in tonight’s overtime win and was eight-for-eight from the line.  I keep wanting to do one of their games.

Efficiency Chart

Garrisson Duvivier 24

Eric Demers 19

Stephen Azums 18

Jaren Yang 13

Jake Haar 11

Gordon 103

Wentworth 48

Box from the game

(All of the pictures will enlarge if you click on them.)

Eric Demers splits two Leopards

Eric Demers tries to drive past Ellis Christmas

Garrisson Duvivier at the rim

Graham Tienhaara and Sam Knollmeyer

Jason Ganley between Garrisson Duvivier and Matt Valles

Garrisson Duvivier had three blocks

Graham Tienhaara and Stephen Azums battle for a rebound

Jason Ganley shoots over Jake Hart

 

 

 

 

Gordon defeats Wentworth 77-66 for third straight win

Noah Szilagyi (thirteen in the first half)

Jake Hart (12 points off the bench)

(Amesbury MA) Wentworth has been a pain in the neck for Gordon over the past three years.

That pain, however, eased a bit tonight as the Scots played some fun-to-watch basketball earning a 77-66 win over the Leopards in Boston.

Wentworth had won seven of the previous eight meetings and had twice dropped GC out of the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament in the last three years.

The Scots (7-5) played like the more experienced team on this night making terrific passes and taking good care of the ball.  I am not sure which pleased me more; the twenty-five assists or the nine turnovers.  Put numbers like that together in a game and a good end-result is likely.

The Leopards (8-4) just weren’t themselves.  Their defense is usually tight but Gordon, on this evening, found openings close to the basket regularly.

If you are looking for time segments where Gordon won this game your best bet would be the last five minutes of each half.

In the first half the Scots led, 31-27, with five minutes left.  WIT didn’t score again missing all six shot attempts.  GC had a 41-27 halftime lead.

In the second half the Leopards had taken a 56-31 deficit with fifteen minutes remaining and cut it to to 64-59 with five minutes left.  The final five minutes?  Wentworth was one-for-seven shooting three’s and GC escaped with a 77-66 win.

Coach Tod Murphy described the win over ENC on Saturday as a “team win.”  I don’t doubt that he’d describe this one as more of the same.

The Scots have now won three straight.

Noah Szilagyi came off the Gordon bench and put up thirteen points in the first half.

Jake Hart, also off the bench, never missed a shot and ended up with twelve points.

Eric Demers (eight assists and several key baskets)

Eric Demers had trouble from long range, so he turned into a passer and a driver.  Result?  Eight assists.  When Wentworth had cut the lead to five in the second half, Eric drove for layups on the next two GC possessions to turn the momentum back to the team from Wenham.

Garrisson Duvivier had his seventh double/double of the season.  The GC junior also had five assists.

Efficiency Chart

Garrisson Duvivier 25

Jason Ganley 23 (25 points)

Stephen Azums 20 (16 pts, 8 rebs)

Noah Szilagyi 16 (13 points)

Jake Hart 14 (12 points)

Gordon 105

Wentworth 75

Next up is Endicott on Thursday night (7:30PM) at the Bennett Center.  The Gulls have beaten Gordon six straight times. One of those wins knocked the Scots out of the CCC tournament in 2016.  Endicott graduated all five starters but have quickly reloaded.

Box from the Wentworth/Gordon game

 

 

 

 

Gordon defeats Wentworth 2-1 to reach CCC semi-finals

Devin Lacroix’s first-half goal in flight. Devin assisted on Lexi Potter’s eventual game winner in the second half.

Scots celebrate their 6th straight win.

(Wenham MA)  There were plenty of fives on the line in this one.

Gordon had a five-game win streak.  Gordon had won all five home games. But on the other hand, the Scots were winless in their last five matches versus Wentworth.

What gave was the winless stretch against Wentworth as the Scots downed the Leopards, 2-1, to win the quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament on a beautiful Saturday afternoon on The Quad in Wenham.

WIT goalie Christie Fleming sets to stop Asha Steele’s shot from in close in the first half

Wentworth won the CCC title in 2016 but minus nine graduated seniors struggled to get good scoring opportunities against the short-passing home team.

A year ago, in two meetings, WIT outshot the Scots 46-11 and handily defeated GC 5-0 and 4-0.  But that was last year.  In this afternoon’s game, #4 seed GC took nineteen shots while limiting #5 seed Wentworth to only nine shots.

Naomi Shearer (9) in the mix during one of Gordon’s ten corner kicks.

The key stat, to me, was corner kicks.  The Scots took ten while the Leopards had none.  There was plenty of pressure on the visitors.

Sophomore Devin Lacroix had a goal and an assist for the 10-4-2 Scots.

Nearly eight minutes into the game Devin found an opening on the right to shoot.  Her well-struck attempt hit the bottom of the crossbar and dropped in beyond the goal line.

Wentworth (6-11-1) had few chances, but they capitalized on one of them before the end of the half.  Molly Donahue beat Devin Lacroix to a goal kick and teed up a long shot from the right.  Molly’s kick soared over Gordon GK Kali Denty’s fingers and tied the score, 1-1.

Soccer can be a cruel game.  A team possesses the ball.  Passes the ball well.  Yet it’s goals that settle the outcome.  That’s why that 1-1 tie at halftime was unnerving.  One mistake could be crucial.

But the Scots were quick in the second half to put the pressure back on the Leopards.

Only 1 ½ minutes into the second half, Devin Lacroix attracted four Leopards to the middle of the field before sending a gorgeous pass ahead to teammate Lexi Potter.

Devin Lacroix draws four Leopards and passes ahead to Lexi Potter.

Lexi Potter (19) about to finish with Danielle McDonnell (3) nearby

I was at the Salve Regina game last Saturday, when Lexi was sent in by teammate Ashton Barkey and scored from that same right side.

This time around it was Devin setting up Lexi.  Lexi’s goal was her eighth.  Devin registered her 7^th assist.

Emily Richard – 2016 Offensive-Player-of-the-Year in the CCC

A key to the win?  Limiting last year’s CCC offensive player of the year (Emily Richard) to three shots.  Emily had eight goals and fourteen assists for the 2016 Leopards.

The Gordon passing was once again a sight to behold.  You just can’t single out one player for special accolades when the ball is successfully shared so much among teammates.  Everyone has to be good at passing and receiving or the Gordon style wouldn’t work………but it does so the entire team is on its game.

Great passing is one thing, but a team needs finishers and I’ve also seen that in the two wins I’ve viewed.

The victory sends the Scots into the semi-finals against #1 seed Endicott in Beverly on Wednesday.  The Gulls overwhelmed GC 5-2 during the regular season.  It should be a challenge for sure.

The Scots have won six straight and have been in the CCC tourney finals the last two seasons.  To say that Gordon has been doing well lately (last six games) is an understatement.  Endicott could be in for a surprise!

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

Lexi Potter gets free for the eventual game winner

Reactions to Gordon’s second goal

Scots celebrate second goal

Devin Lacroix sets to shoot

Wentworth GK Christie Fleming leaps to make a save

Molly Donahue scored the WIT goal

Gordon celebrates first goal

Samantha Medeiros and Asha Steele

Danielle McDonnell (3), Heather MacDougall (26) and Chandler Stier (17)

Kasey Hayes (3) and Sidney Brogan (10)

Kiersten Klose (5)

Wentworth celebrates their first-half goal

 

 

 

 

 

Wentworth knocks Gordon out of the tournament 82-75

Shot in the air as well as several players

Sam Knollmeyer gets two

(Wenham MA) Wentworth dictated the tempo and defeated Gordon, 82-75, on Tuesday night.

The loss in the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament’s first round ends the season for the (15-11) Scots.

The Leopards (14-12) went on a 12-2 run in the last five minutes of the first half to gain a 38-28 advantage at halftime.

The Scots rode the wave of the best crowd of the season and came all the way back to a 59-59 tie with 5:33 remaining.  An old-fashioned three by Josh Ribeiro was the tie enabler.

Plenty of time for good things to happen for the home team.

But those good things didn’t happen in the all-important next minute.  Dan DeVaux drained a three and was fouled.  Dan made the freebie and three more WIT free throws followed. In that one minute the Leopards raced ahead, 66-59, to gain separation.

Jake Hart ahead of the defense

The thing that impresses me when I watch Wentworth is their ability to get high-percentage shots on so many of their possessions.  Their last game versus Gordon was lost because their shots weren’t falling but even in that loss many of the shots taken were high-percentage.

The Scots, on the other hand, often settled for the first open look outside, which were rare, or looked inside.  Gordon’s inside was contested but single defenders get overpowered by Sam Johnson/Garrisson Duvivier.

Gordon’s 3-point shooting tanked out in the final two games to the tune of 4-for-18.  The Scots must find ways to get more open looks on the perimeter.

Sam Johnson covered by Stephen Azums

The inside game has been consistently good and was again tonight.  Wentworth’s tight defense on the arc opened things up and Garrisson Duvivier was able to finish his sophomore season with a season-high thirty-three points.

Sam Johnson finished his season and career on a double-double note – 13 points and 10 rebounds. Seventeenth time Sam has had the twin doubles this season.

Replacing Sam next year will not be possible.  My next Gordon event, Lord willing, will be Sam’s graduation in May.

Efficiency

Garrisson Duvivier 31

Sam Johnson 23

Stephen Azum 18 (10 points, 10 rebounds)

Dan DeVaux 14 (13 points)

Wentworth 89

Gordon 84

Box from the game.

(All pictures enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Ben Kizel and Luke Meyer

Tight defense by Jason Ganley

Jake Hart reaches in

Sam Johnson and Dan DeVaux afterwards

Sam Johnson’s final two

Jason Ganley long range

Jake Hart to the hoop

Josh Ribeiro brought Gordon back to a tie

Jake Haar and Cesar Fulcar

Jaren Yang looks for someone to pass to

Sam Knollmeyer, with Garrisson Duvivier running at him, hits a three just before halftime