The Fighting Scots outscored their opponents by a 30-19 margin over the final 12 minutes to improve to 13-8 overall and 11-4 in CCC games.

UNE drops to 1-21 on the year, 1-14 in league play.

Johnson also pulled in 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. Senior Alex Carnes scored 10 and classmate Luke Hamilton added nine. Senior Park Thomas recorded eight points to go with six assists.

For the Nor'easters, sophomore guard William Abdul-Malak tossed in a season-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Classmate Russ Daly and first-year Brayden Morse both tallied 12 points. It was a personal-best for Daly, who also grabbed six rebounds and three steals.

Things were close early on, until an 8-0 spurt by Gordon made the difference nine (23-14) with three minutes to go in the 1st half. Johnson registered the initial six before a pair of free throws from Thomas.

After Abdul-Malak and Thomas traded three-pointers, Abdul-Malak canned another triple and Morse connected from long range on the next trip down to trim the margin to three (26-23).

Hamilton looked to post the last points of the frame with a trey inside the final eight seconds of the half, but Abdul-Malak raced the length of the court to lay one in just before the buzzer sounded.

The Fighting Scots led 33-28 with a few minutes gone in the 2nd period, before a 12-3 UNE run swung the advantage in favor of the hosts (40-36). Daly had baskets on three consecutive possessions during the latter stages of the stretch.

Gordon answered with 13 of the next 17 points -- from five different players -- to go up by five (49-44) with under eight on the clock. The Nor'easters could get no closer than four (58-54) the rest of the way.

Both sides are back in action on Saturday, as the Fighting Scots host Salve Regina University (3 p.m.) and Big Blue heads to Nichols College (1 p.m.).