Scots down Curry 88-72 and now get Endicott in the CCC first round

(Amesbury/Milton MA) It wasn’t unexpected but it was necessary to earn the Scots a fifth place finish in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

Gordon (12-13) defeated winless Curry, 88-72, to close out the regular season schedule.

The win separated the Scots from Roger Williams, which lost to Wentworth, and secured 5^th for the team from Wenham. Roger Williams held the tie-breaker against Gordon.

Curry (0-25) has had season-long struggles at both ends of the court. That pattern continued today as the Scots had plenty of good looks and the Colonels trailed by twenty, 49-29, at the half.

Things didn’t change much in the second half although the GC personnel certainly did. The starters minutes were less than usual as everyone in a Gordon uniform saw action.

The Curry roster included only nine players and one of them was their lone senior, Tim Flanagan, who collected twenty-six points while playing the entire game.

Efficiency Chart

Garrisson Duvivier 23 (16 points/8 rebounds)

Sam Johnson 22 (14 points/13 rebounds)

Paul Preziosi 20 (17 points/12 rebounds)

James Pina 19 (18 points/12 rebounds)

Jake Hart 15 (8 points/6 assists)

Tim Flanagan 15 (26 points)

Gordon 103

Curry 67

Boxscore from the game

If you’ve taken the time to read this far you may wonder, or already know, about Tuesday’s opponent in the opening round of the CCC tournament. It’s our “friends” down the street in Beverly. Yes, a third try against the Endicott Gulls.

Game time is at 5:30PM on Tuesday. Why so early? The EC girls’ basketball team is also opening at home in the tournament.

When I realized that it was Endicott again I looked back at my coverage of those two losses (75-60 and 80-73) to the Gulls.

Similar patterns emerged in both games: good first half and weak second half. Endicott pulled away in each second half because the Scots’ offense hit dry spells and Endicott’s didn’t.

The last meeting (a week ago) was particularly tough because in a 7-point loss the Scots missed ten of eleven 3-point attempts in the second half.

In the first loss, Gordon points from the inside vanished in the second half.

Either one of those deficiencies will spell trouble on Tuesday night. However, if the outside shooting is consistent then things will open up inside. If the inside game is productive there will be openings on the perimeter.

Can the Scots bring that sort of game to Beverly on Tuesday night? I believe that they can. If they can stay close the pressure builds up on the home team down the stretch and then anything can happen.

We can certainly look at this year’s GC men’s soccer team for inspiration. They ended up playing the #1 seed Gulls at Beverly in the CCC championship game and brought the league trophy to Wenham with an exciting win.

I have always believed that any win over Endicott is special. It’s like a Red Sox/Yankee thing to me. To win on their court in a tournament game would be extra special.

I would expect that there will be plenty of GC support on hand come Tuesday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Game #9 – Curry) Gordon Wins Second CCC Game with Second-Half Proficiency

 By Peter McClelland

(Milton) “Gordon played better in the last five minutes and that was the difference,” was Curry coach Sean Casey’s accurate assessment of the reason for his team’s loss to visiting Gordon, 77-67, at the Miller Gymnasium on Saturday. 

The score was knotted at 60 with 4 ½ to play when Gordon reeled off eight straight to surge to the margin that Curry couldn’t overcome.  Junior Elliott Blackstone was the spark.  First he split the Colonel defense for a foul-line jumper and then went in strong against the Commonwealth Coast Conference’s best shot blocker, Kyle McNamar.  Next Scott Allenby connected on an open jumper from the corner and Scott Beebe followed with two free throws.

“Elliott has been great all year, “added Gordon coach Mike Schauer.  “He so valuable for us because he can do so many things, such as, go by people, rebound, and finish around the basket.”

The victory moves Gordon to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the CCC.  Curry’s losing streak reaches seven and they’re 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Gordon attempted to minimize Curry’s athleticism and height advantage by dusting off a match-up zone that hadn’t been used in a game since November.  It paid off for the Scots.  “Our weak shooting brings out the zones in most of our opponents,” said coach Casey aware that his team had shot 6/26 (23%) from 3-point land and 35% overall.  “They packed in the zone, double and triple teaming our big guys.  That gave us plenty of open looks on kickbacks outside but we failed to capitalize on enough of them.”

The zone helped plenty but it was Gordon’s smooth execution (3 turnovers in the second half), facing a tenacious man-to-man defense, that kept Curry at bay once the lead had been secured.  “They ran their stuff better in the second half and got more open looks then we wanted.  We knew that they would make shots eventually.” 

Not surprisingly, Scott Beebe led the way for Gordon finishing with 20 including 12 in the second half.  What was surprising, however, was the emergence of an inside game with Joe Witherspoon.  “Joe is tough inside and we need to go to him more in there,” said coach Schauer afterwards.  Joe (18 points) also helped the Gordon cause by making all ten free throws he attempted.  Elliott Blackstone contributed 14 and Josh Sylvester added 10.

Keith Fredriksen and Ricardo Graham paced Curry with 15 and Glen Goff added 13 off the bench.

Next up for Gordon is Becker College on Tuesday night (8PM) at home.  It is a non-league game with an opponent that has lost its first six games.