Men's Basketball's Late Rally Falls Short In 67-55 Setback Against Gordon

Worcester, MA --- Gordon senior Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, MA) tallied 13 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Fighting Scots to a 67-55 victory over Worcester State in non-conference men's basketball action at WPI's Harrington Auditorium this evening.   

Freshman Jaren Yang (San Francisco, CA) also paced the Fighting Scots (4-6) by netting 12 points on three triples with five assists as senior Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, CT) pulled down 10 rebounds.

Senior Taylor Badjema (Whitinsville, MA) and junior Udoka Obiora (Boston, MA/Boston Trinity) each finished with nine and eight points, respectively, with four boards apiece.

The Lancers (3-9) were underscored by senior Brendan Rios (Easthampton, MA) who had a team-best 13 points, four rebounds and three steals while sophomore Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, MA/Cathedral) added 12 points, five caroms and four swipes.

Sophomore Paul Brooks (Arlington, MA) logged a solid line with 11 points, five rebounds and five blocks as freshman Connor Deegan (Weymouth, MA) contributed a squad-high five helpers.

Miersma bookended an early 11-3 advantage by converting a lay-up to jump start the Fighting Scots and a tip-in to finish the surge at the 14:23 mark for the visitors.

Gordon then used a 13-6 spurt to open up a 24-9 edge with 6:41 left in the opening frame on a Yang trey before settling with the 29-17 margin at the intermission.

In a period that was dominated by the Fighting Scots, sophomore Isaiah Tatum (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) did give the Lancers a little momentum heading into the break as he jacked a buzzer-beating jumper at the top of the key.

Worcester State used the spark and started off the second stanza by cutting it to single digits early on in the period (29-20), but that was the closest the hosts got the rest of the way.

Gordon took control and nearly doubled up their opponents with a 28-13 surge over the next 12 minutes to build up a comfortable 57-33 advantage with 6:02 remaining in regulation. Five different players contributed in the rally with Miersma pouring in eight while Badjema and Obiora notched six points each.

The Lancers didn't go away quietly with a strong full court press to help produce a 16-2 outburst over a four minute span to trim the deficit to 59-49 at the 2:14 mark. DiBernardo finished the run off with a three-pointer and he keyed the skein for the Blue and Gold with eight points.

Gordon though iced the game as Yang knocked down a trifecta at the top of the arc with 1:39 left to seal up the victory for the visitors.

The Fighting Scots connected on 50 percent of their shots for the contest (26-for-52) and hit six of their 11 tries from beyond the arc (55 percent). The visitors converted more than half of their output inside the paint (38-20) and led in bench scoring, 23-18.

Worcester State couldn't shake a poor shooting effort as the hosts finished with a porous 29 percent overall (19-for-66), but did can seven of their 21 attempts from downtown. The Blue and Gold also utilized 11 steals to force 22 Gordon turnovers to end the game with a 20-17 edge in points off of miscues.

After starting out the season outrebounding their opponents in nine of their first 10 games, tonight marked the second consecutive that a foe has accomplished the feat against the Lancers with the Fighting Scots holding a 43-36 final margin on the backboards.

WSU travels to Fisher on Tuesday in a 7 PM non-conference clash while Gordon continues Commonwealth Coast Conference play with a 5:30 home meeting against Western New England on the same night.