Feb 11, 2015
WENHAM, Mass.—Freshmen guards Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.) and Dylan Marshall (Purcellville, Va.) finished as the top two scorers, combining for 27 points in a 59-51 home win over visiting University of New England. The Nor'easters Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) led all scorers with 20 points, but the timely shooting by Marshall in the second half allowed Gordon to pull away late for the eight-point victory on Wednesday night at the Bennett Center.
The first half followed a similar story as the first matchup between the two teams, which UNE won in Biddeford a month ago. The Nor'easters raced out to an 11-point lead on the back of their leading scorer Thompson, who scored 11 points in the first six minutes of regulation. After the early scoring spurt, UNE led Gordon 14-4.
Gordon cut the gap to five with three points from Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) and Dominic Paradis (Rochester, N.H.), but a turnover allowed UNE to score two buckets in a 20-second span to make it a 18-10 game at the halfway point of the first period.
The two teams traded points back and forth for the next five minutes, as Paradis seemed to be the only Scot who could find the bottom of the net during the span. Down 25-18 with 4:02 on the clock, Gordon methodically began to chip away at the lead. Jake Hart (Allendale, N.J.) hit a seven-foot jumper before Yang drained a deep three on the extended elbow to cut it to two.
After a UNE turnover, Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) converted an and-one opportunity to give the Scots its first lead with 2:14 to play in the half. Gordon extended its lead just 25 seconds later when a long rebound led to a fast-break chance for Craig McFarlane (Hackensack, N.J.).
The Nor'easters scored the final three points of the half to bring it even at 28 points a side. The two squads had nearly identical shooting percentages in the first half, hovering around 35-percent, but the Nor'easters doubled Gordon's made shots from behind the arc. The Fighting Scots outrebounded UNE 26-15 in the first half.
A defensive battle kicked off the second half, as UNE trudged to a 32-31 advantage after five minutes. However, seven consecutive points by a trio of Gordon guards gave them its largest lead to that point at 38-32.
UNE eventually tied the game at 41 points on a long three by Thompson, his fourth make from that distance. The Nor'easters took a 45-44 lead on a pair of free throws by Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Texas) with 7:25 to play, but Gordon responded with a 13-2 run over the next seven minutes to put the game out of reach.
UNE falls to 4-11 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference and 6-16 overall. After Thompson's production, only Parker scored more than four points in the game. Thompson and CJ Autry (Standish, Maine) each grabbed five rebounds to lead the team, while the Nor'easters managed nine steals on the evening.
Gordon's freshmen duo made five triples in the game and combined for three steals to go with the outstanding scoring effort. Yang (15 points), Marshall (a career-high 12 points) and Paradis (11 points) paced Gordon's offense. Miersma only scored eight points against the UNE zone defense, but had another solid defensive night with 12 rebounds and six blocks. Richie Armand (Hempstead, N.Y.) dished out five assists and had a team-high five offensive rebounds at the point.
UNE continues to fight for a CCC playoff berth on Saturday at home against Nichols. Gordon goes back on the road after a two-game stand, looking to avenge an earlier loss to Salve Regina at 3 p.m. on Saturday.