Box Score
QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men’s basketball team had four players score double-digit numbers in Saturday’s loss to Commonwealth Coast Conference rival Gordon College. The Fighting Scots were led by junior David Dempsey who secured a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double and an impressive six blocks in the 74-58 victory.
The first twenty minutes of the matchup featured eight lead changes and four ties, most of which came at the front and back ends of the period. The Lions would score first off of junior Chima Ezeigbo’s free-throw at 18:25 and the game would stay within four until a 3-pointer from Gordon freshman Cooper Meyer put the Fighting Scots up by five with 12:53 left in the half. GC would then go on a run, holding their lead for just over eleven minutes, during which time they went up by as many as 12, before ENC put together a late surge, scoring 12 points in three minutes to tie the game at 29-29 with 1:48 to play in the half. ENC junior’s Mike McCoy and Max Barbosa would take over in the final minutes, scoring eight points to give the Lions a 35-33 lead at the break.
The second period was back and forth for the first ten minutes, with the lead changing hands three times. At the 11:22 mark, Gordon sophomore Park Thomas would hit a 3-pointer to put the Fighting Scots up by three at 49-46 and although the Lion’s would respond to bring the score within one at 51-50 with 8:05 to play, they would not regain the lead again, trailing by 16 when the final buzzer sounded.
With the win, Gordon improves to 8-13 on the season and 7-7 in CCC play. The Lions fall to 3-17 overall and 2-11 in conference.
The Fighting Scots distributed the ball well, garnering 21 assists on the day. Thomas was responsible for nearly half of them, distributing 10 to lead all players. The underclassmen scored six and grabbed four rebounds to do a bit of everything for Gordon. Classmates Alex Carnes and Luke Hamilton scored 11 and 12, respectively. Carnes also grabbed five off of the glass for GC. Freshman Hans Miersma had a well-rounded evening, scoring eight, tallying eight caroms and blocking four shots. Gordon recorded 11 blocks in the contest with Miersma and Dempsey accounting for 10 of them.
Barbosa led the Lions in points and assists, scoring 15 and dishing out six. The Lion’s big man, Ezeigbo, chipped in 13 points, secured eight rebounds and stole the ball twice. Senior CJ Gonzales was one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 10 and grabbing nine boards. McCoy matched Gonzales’ 10 and came up with two steals while Brian Hard’s aggressive rebounding tactics resulted in nine boards for the sophomore.
Eastern Nazarene travels to Endicott on Monday, February 6th to face the Gulls in a 5:30p.m. make-up contest. Gordon’s next game is scheduled for 8:00p.m. on February 8th at home, also against Endicott.
Release courtesy of ENC sports information.
