Salem, Mass. -- The Salem State Vikings erased a 12-point deficit to comeback to win 79-77 over the Fighting Scots of Gordon Tuesday night at the Twohig Gymnasium. Salem State improves to 3-2 while Gordon falls to 2-2. Salem State was led by Shaquan Murray (Boston, MA) who scored 19 points on 5-11 shooting.
 
Salem State didn't have an answer for the Fighting Scots' offense as Gordon opened up on a 10-0 run. Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, CO) tallied five points during the run including a three-pointer to force a Vikings' timeout in the first three minutes of play. However, Salem State cut the Fighting Scots lead to 13-8 after a Ryan Cloutier (Pelham, NH) mid range jumper and slam. Midway through the half, Gordon went on another scoring spurt that gave them a 13-point edge, the largest margin of the half. During that stretch, Luke Meyer (Patchogue, NY) scored four points while Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, CA) added a three. Haar shot 3-5 from beyond the arc as he added 12 points to help the Fighting Scots take a 44-34 lead going into the second half. Murray led Salem State with 10 first half points while Marcus Faison (Cambridge, MA) totaled eight points in the half.  
 
Salem State cut the deficit to five points with 15:14 minutes left to play in the game after Zach Hurynowicz (Burlington, MA) scored four consecutive points taking the ball strong to the basket. The Vikings battled their way down to a one-point deficit after a pair of Murray free throws and a Cloutier fast break lay up. Salem State's shooters came to life midway through the half as Billy Muse (Salem, MA) knocked down a three to cut the deficit to three. Moments later, Cloutier knotted the game at 61-61 after draining a three-pointer from the corner to gain momentum for the Vikings.
 
After taking a slight 66-63 lead, Gordon College fouled Shyheim Davis (Boston, MA), who converted the three-point play to bring the score back to even. Salem State took their first lead of the game as Hurynowicz knocked down a transition three to take a 70-67 edge. Later, Muse took back the lead for Salem State as he came off a double screen to sink a three ball to give the Vikings a 77-74 advantage. However, with 58 seconds left Garrison Duvivier (Brockton, MA) made a lay up to cut the deficit to 77-76. Davis came up big for Salem State as he grabbed two huge offensive rebounds to extend the Vikings' possessions, killing the clock.  
 
With seven seconds left, Jake Hart (Allendale, NJ) was fouled, awarding him two shots. However, after he sank the first one to cut the deficit to one, he missed the second one after his team called a timeout. With five seconds remaining, Gordon College desperately fouled Faison, sending him to the line for two shots. After making the first to put the Vikings' atop 79-77, Faison missed the second, but stole the ball back from Duvivier to secure the 79-77 win.
 
Faison added nine points and twelve rebounds while Davis contributed with 16 points off the bench. Hurynowicz  inished with 15 points for Salem State. The Fighting Scots leading scorers were Duvivier who scored 16 points followed by Haar who tallied 15 points. Gordon committed 20 turnovers to just 11 for Salem State.
 
The Fighting Scots will host the Golden Bears of Western New England University at 7:30 p.m. on December 2nd. The Vikings travel to face-off against the Engineers of MIT on December 3rd for a 7:00 p.m. start time.