WENHAM, Mass.—Senior Jon Perez (Weymouth, Mass.) scored 15 points off the bench and Salem State never trailed in a 77-67 win over the Fighting Scots. The Vikings took the North Shore Cup matchup for the second consecutive year despite the Fighting Scots limiting top scorer Bryan Ortiz to only 2-of-7 shooting from the field. Gordon drops to 1-3 on the season, while Salem State continues its strong start at 3-1.
The Vikings rebounded from a tough loss at home against UMass-Dartmouth with a cover-to-cover win on the road. Salem State put Gordon in the early hole and the Fighting Scots were never able to put a scoring run together to get back within striking distance.
Gordon's game plan to limit the explosiveness of the speed Ortiz seemed to work in the first half, as the point guard went into halftime with only two points to his name. Ortiz came into the contest averaging nearly 27 points per game as a part of a high-flying Salem State attack. Instead it was the outside shooting of Nicholas Grassa (Lynn, Mass.) and Perez that took advantage of Gordon's defense. The duo combined for 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arch and 16 points to deliver a 37-29 lead at the break.
Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) and Jake Hart (Allendale, N.J.) each had strong halves with eight points apiece, but early foul trouble plagued the Scots once again.
Gordon cut Salem's lead down to six with just over 12 minutes to play when Dominic Paradis (Rochester, N.H.) converted on an and-one opportunity. However, Salem outscored Gordon by seven points over the next six points to put the game back in control of the Vikings. The Fighting Scots closed the gap to only eight points in the closing minutes, but they weren't able to capitalize on missed free throws by the Vikings to get any closer.
Four Vikings finished with double figures and Perez led with way on 5-of-7 shooting, including three from long range. Ortiz did most of his damage from the free-throw line and finished with 11 points. Anthony Hodges (Worcester, Mass.) and Hamed Akanni (Fitchburg, Mass.) also pitched in with strong performances in the second half. Marcus Faison (Cambridge, Mass.) led the Vikings with seven rebounds.
Miersma put forth the top scoring effort for the second consecutive game and finished with a double-double at 17 points and 12 boards. The senior forward also had six of Gordon's 10 deflections in the game in 32 minutes. Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) had his strongest game of the season thus far with 12 points and five rebounds.
Turnovers did the Scots in with 21 in the game and only nine assists. The Vikings only turned the ball over seven times.
Gordon's tough early-season schedule continues on December 3, when they travel to Beverly to take on Endicott in the CCC opener at 7:30 p.m.
