WENHAM, Mass. –With four players scoring in double figure, the Gordon College men's basketball team earned its second trip to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title game in the last four years after capturing a 73-54 win over the visiting Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology in the Bennett Athletic Center.
The Scots improve to 21-6 overall on the season and will travel to top-seeded Curry, an 82-76 winner over fourth-seeded Eastern Nazarene for the conference championship on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The two teams met in the 2010 title game with Gordon winning, 56-54. Wentworth, which was playing its first toad conference tournament game since the 2008-09 season, falls to 16-11 and awaits a possible ECAC Tournament berth.
Sophomore Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) recorded a 14-point, 10-rebound, four-block night to lead the Fighting Scots, followed closely by junior Luke Hamilton (Mount Airy, N.C.) with 13 points. Also contributing heavily were junior Park Thomas (Scottsdale, Ariz.) with 11 points, seven rebounds, and five assists and sophomore Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) with 10 points and eight boards.
The Scots shot 55 percent from the floor (28-51), 41 percent from behind the arc (7-17) and outrebounded their guests 44-30.
Wentworth junior Derek Mayo (Casco, Maine) led all Leopards with 13 points and seven rebounds, while senior Colin Johnson (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) put up 11 points and grabbed six boards and sophomores John-Michael Fragnoli (Scotia, N.Y.) and Nico Donato (Glastonbury, Conn.) chipped in 10 each. Fragnoli had three blocks, while Donato had six rebounds and four assists.
Dempsey and Miersma opened the night by hitting 11 of the Scots' first 15 points, but Wentworth's Mayo and Fragnoli did their part to keep the game close with nine of their team's first 13 to make it just a two-point game at 10:41. Sophomore James Ek (Saco, Maine) then netted a jumper from long range and, following a Miersma block at the other end, converted another trey on the next possession. That marked the beginning of an 11-0 run for Gordon behind Ek's six and five from Miersma to give the Scots a 26-13 advantage at 6:18. Wentworth senior Dailon Wilson (Houston, Texas) added the Leopards' only remaining points of the half off a three from Mayo, but senior David Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) closed out the final minutes with five points to give Gordon the 31-16 lead at the break.
Wentworth's Johnson scored all 11 of his points in the second while Donato and Mayo added eight apiece in the frame, but Gordon's Hamilton also registered his 13 points in the half and Thomas hit nine of his 11 to help the Scots preserve their lead and secure a place in the championship game. In the second half alone, Gordon shot 62 percent from the floor (16-26) and 63 percent from long range (5-8) and won the battle at the boards, 23-11.
(Portions of This Recap Courtesy of Gordon College Athletic Communications)