WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—Gordon ran out a big lead in the first half and held the Babson Beavers at arms length the rest of the way in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at Williams. The Scots led at halftime by 13 points and finished out a 76-68 win with some moxie in big moments to move onto the Second Round tomorrow evening.
The Fighting Scots started off hot, pulling out a 6-2 advantage on baskets by Park Thomas (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) and Taylor Bajema (Whitinsville, Mass.). Babson came storming back with a 8-0 run of its own in a three minute span, as the Scots struggled to hold onto the ball.
With the Scots trailing by four points, Gordon head coach Tod Murphy sent in key reserve Alex Carnes (Phoenix, Ariz.) to give the team a spark. Gordon's reserves responded well to the big moment, going on a 19-2 over the course of six minutes to open up a mammoth 25-12 lead at the third media timeout of the half.
Gordon's lead grew to 16 points when Carnes converted on a basket plus the foul opportunity just inside of the final media timeout of the half with 3:31 remaining.
Down 32-16, Babson upped their defensive pressure to force the Fighting Scots into a handful of mistakes on their offensive end. The Beavers used three Scots' turnovers to go on a 7-0 run and cut Gordon's advantage to nine points with under two minutes to play in the first half.
The Scots ended the half with four straight points and led 36-23 at the break. Carnes led all scorers with 13 points, while Dempsey found plenty of room in the paint to put up eight points and six boards. Gordon made exactly half of their 30 attempts from the floor in the first half, while Babson only connected on 30-percent from the field.
Babson's pep talk at halftime helped the Beavers roll out to a 13-5 run to get within five points of the Scots just a quarter through the second period. The Scots responded with five straight points, highlighted by a pick-and-pop triple from Carnes to push the lead back into double digits.
The Beavers and Scots traded baskets back and forth for the next 10 minutes with Gordon's lead hovering between nine and 13 points. Every time the Beavers looked to make a run, Gordon responded with a timely bucket on the other end to keep the advantage at a comfortable level.
Two free throws from Babson's Kenny Ross cut the Scot lead to five with 39 seconds remaining in regulation. The Beavers were forced into a situation to foul in the final minute, putting senior point guard Thomas in a pressure situation to make free throws. He made all six attempts from the charity stripe in the waning seconds to preserve Gordon's first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
When asked about the pressure, Thomas emphasized how important it is for point guards to be efficient free-throw shooters. "As a point guard you are going to have the ball in big moments and I like being at the line at the end of a game."
Gordon held NEWMAC Player of the Year Joey Flannery for a majority of the game thanks to outstanding defensive efforts from Luke Hamilton (Mount Airy, N.C.) and Bajema. Flannery was a major part of the push in the second half and finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Sixth man Eric Dean had an outstanding game for the Beavers, scoring well above his season average with 15 points. Senior point guard, Kenny Ross also tallied 15 points and dished out a team high three assists.
Carnes led all scorers for the game with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting, while also finding seven rebounds, and a key steal in the second half. After being shut out of the box score in the first half, Miersma had a monster second half with 10 points and a block. Dempsey had one of the most impressive defensive efforts of the season with four blocks, seven rebounds and 12 points.
In his first tournament experience, freshman Dominic Paradis (Rochester, N.H.) made several big shots in the second half. Twice Paradis made a long jumped to end a Babson run and help Gordon regain momentum. Thomas made all 10 of his free-throw attempts and finished second on the team with 15 points.
Gordon had their best shooting performance of the season by making 58-percent of their attempts from the floor. They Scots also had a season high 90-percent shooting percentage at the free-throw line.
"Our guys played an exceptional defensive game," Coach Murphy said at the conclusion of the game. "We came out an executed our game plan effectively and several guys stepped up in big ways tonight."