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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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 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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Gordon ends streak downing Wentworth 70-61

Jaren Yang was six-for-six at the line.

(Amesbury MA) Some wins are sweeter than others.  This was one of them.

Gordon put an end to a six-game losing streak to Wentworth (11-12) by defeating the Leopards, 70-61, on Saturday afternoon in Boston.

WIT shot a merciless 65% in the first meeting and have had GC’s number for two seasons.  That domination crashed and burned this afternoon.

Reality set in on the Wentworth shooters (39%) and the team had to play from behind most of the second half.

The Scots free throw shooting (Where did this accuracy come from?) was clutch in the second half as they made their last eleven straight.

Jason Ganley was off against the Scots.

It certainly helped to have the Commonwealth Coast Conference’s best free-throw shooter, Jaren Yang, at the line six times down the stretch.  Jaren has missed only four free throws (2 in one game), all season, in sixty-three attempts.

In the second half, the Scots (10-6 in the CCC) gained separation, squandered separation, and then closed strong.

Gordon (13-10) was barely up, 41-40, with 16:35 left before putting ten straight points together.  Four layups and a Josh Ribeiro jumpers did the trick.

The team from Wenham still had the eleven-point cushion (56-45) with 8:03 to go.

Then a familiar team nemesis showed up: turnovers.  The next four minutes?  Six of them.  Combined with two missed jumpers and a missed three, the door for comeback was wide open for the home team.

WIT (9-7 in the CCC) took advantage of the GC lapse and stood at the doorstep, 56-53, with 2:57 left.

Jake Hart (15 points, 5 assists) had his best game of the season

Season turning point?  Gordon did not blink.  Instead, the next eight points were there’s.  A Jaren Yang jump shot from the left side off the backboard was followed by a Garrison Duvivier layup assisted by Jake Haar.  Consecutive double free throws by Jaren Yang and Jake Hart sealed the deal for Gordon as the Scots were back up by eleven in the last minute.

Why was this game so important?  The obvious was ending Wentworth’s hold on Gordon.  The teams should be facing one another in the first round of the CCC tournament on Tuesday, February 21^st.  There was no reason to be optimistic in the tourney if the opponent had beaten you seven times in a row.

The win also gives Gordon a chance to look at how they’ve done against the teams (Endicott, Nichols, Roger Williams) in the conference who are above them in the standings.  Probably would face one of them in the Thursday game with a win Tuesday.

The Scots had last-possession losses to Endicott and Nichols, as well as a win over Roger Williams, during the regular season.  Gordon is clearly in the hunt with that trio.

Wentworth’s top scorers (Jason Ganley, Dan DeVaux) were off in today’s game.  Jason was 5-for-13 while Dan was 5-for-18.

A year ago, Jason set Wentworth’s single-game scoring record with thirty-nine points against Gordon.  Nothing near that happened this time around.

Freshman Sam Traicoff connected twice from long range

Freshman Sam Traicoff gave GC two triples off the bench.

This was junior Jake Hart’s best game of the season.

The Scots had trouble with freshman Stephen Azums in the first game and that continued today.

Efficiency

Stephen Azums 22 (12 points, 11 rebounds)

Jaren Yang 21 (15 points, 5 assists)

Jake Hart 16 (15 points,5 assists)

Garrisson Duvivier 15 (17 points)

Sam Johnson 14 (15 rebounds)

Gordon 83

Wentworth 61

Next game for Gordon will be the final home regular-season match.  UNE will be the opposition.

Box from this game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wentworth survives late Gordon run to defeat Scots 86-78

Wentworth on the attack

Wentworth defense

(Wenham MA) The Wentworth Leopards have owned the Gordon College Fighting Scots in recent years and that ownership continued tonight.

The final was 86-78 at the Bennett Center on Tuesday evening.

Wentworth’s ability to dictate how the game will be played on both ends of the court has done in the Scots six straight times.

The Leopards executed their offense inside and outside and turned up high-percentage shots all night long.  The visitors shot over 65% for the WHOLE game.

Meanwhile, down the other end, Sam Johnson and Garrisson Duvivier were double-teamed every time they got the ball so that shots for them were heavily contested.  You would think that concentrating on those two would open up Gordon shots elsewhere but you would be wrong.  There’s not an open look beyond the arc to be found.  Jake Haar, as fine a 3-point specialist as I have seen, had no shots in the first half.

Sam Knollmeyer and Jake Haar

WIT took a ten-point lead in the first half and were in control for most of the second half.

Up 78-62 with 5:42 to go, it appeared to be play-out-the-string time.

The Scots were not so inclined.  For the next 3+ minutes it was all Gordon.  Shots started falling and Wentworth couldn’t make any shots.  Two 3’s by Jake Haar, another by Noah Szilagyi, and two layups by Sam Johnson were all unanswered.  Suddenly it was 78-75 with 1:52 remaining.  Anyone’s game but since this is not the Hallmark Channel there won’t be a happy ending.

Wentworth recovered and had two points in each of their last four possessions including six straight free throws while Gordon reverted and had two turnovers, two misses from the floor, and a missed free throw to show for their end game.  A terrific comeback wasted.

Four of Wentworth’s starters combined to shoot 21-for-29 (72%).  The other starter, Sam Knollmeyer, may not have shot very well but he was the one eliminating Jake Haar’s shot attempts for most of the contest.

Stephen Azums (19 points)

First look at 6-6 freshman Stephen Azums.  Impressive.  Wentworth’s offensive patterns turned up Stephen with one-on-one coverage close to the basket.  He capitalized with nineteen points on 7-for-9 shooting.

The most startling stat from this game was Gordon getting only twenty-seven rebounds.  I had to go back to a game against MIT opening the 2012-13 season to find one with fewer rebounds.  Considering how well the Leopards shot there just weren’t many rebounds to be had.

Sophomore Garrisson Duvivier, despite the heavy WIT coverage, had a big game for the home team.  In fact, in Efficiency, it was his best game of the season.  He had his sixth double/double (24 points/10 rebounds) and put with that four assists and five steals.  Those on hand could tell you that except for a breakaway jam there were no easy shot attempts for Garrisson.

Wentworth is now 5-4 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference win three straight victories.  The Scots are 6-3 in CCC play and had a 3-game win streak snapped with tonight’s loss.

Sam Johnson surrounded by Leopards

Point guard Jaren Yang had seven assists for Gordon.

A year ago in Boston, Jason Ganley set a Wentworth scoring record (39 points) against Gordon.  This time it was sixteen points but fifteen of them were in the second half.

The rest of the regular season will be a nine-game re-run through CCC opponents.

Efficiency

Garrisson Duvivier 34

Stephen Azums 23 (19 points)

Sam Johnson 21 (15 points)

Dan DeVaux 17 (15 points/3 steals)

Wentworth 102

Gordon 78

Next game for GC is on Saturday afternoon against Western New England.  The students are back this week so the “sixth man” should be on hand.

Box from the game.

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

Jason Ganley and Sam Johnson

Looking for a rebound

Garrisson Duvivier jams

Jaren Yang had seven assists

Cesar Fulcar hits a three just before the first half ends

Battle for control

Dylan Marshall heads for the hoop

Ben Kizel

Sam Johnson in close