Box Score
WENHAM, Mass.—For the second game in a row, the Gordon Men's Basketball team avenged a home loss from the regular season, beating No. 7 seed Wentworth 66-55 to advance to Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship game for the second consecutive season. Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) scored a season-high 18 points and two Scots set career marks in the commanding win over the Leopards.
 
Third-seeded Gordon knew they would have to jump out to an early lead if they wanted to avoid an upset to one of the best defensive teams in the conference. Wentworth caught Gordon offguard during their regular season matchup at the Bennett Center, winning a defensive battle against the Scots.
 
The Fighting Scots got exactly what they needed and looked very confident early in navigating through the Leopards' stingy defense. Dempsey and Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) accounted for eight of the Scots first 12 points, as they rolled out to a quick 12-5 lead.
 
Gordon completed a 9-0 run on a wide-open triple from the right wing by senior Alex Carnes (Phoenix, Ariz.) to open their lead to 17-5 with 13:15 to play in the first half. Wentworth temporarily cut the Scots' lead to seven points at 17-10 before Gordon went on another extended run to build up their advantage to 25-11 thanks to another Carnes' three.
 
Once again, Wentworth was able to get the lead back within single digits when Cam Sennick (Wilton, Maine) drained a jumper in the paint to make it a 29-20 game with under a minute to play. Taylor Bajema (Whitinsville, Mass.) used a slick backdoor cut and laid in a ball as time ran out to give the Scots an 11-point lead at the break.
 
Carnes led all scorers in the first half with eight points, while Jherson Colon (Boston, Mass.) paced the Leopards with six points. The Scots went 11-for-23 in the first half, while Wentworth could only convert 32-percent of their shots from the floor.
 
The Scots dominated the pace of the game in the second half, grinding to a 49-29 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation. The Leopards made a furious comeback over the next five minutes and change—going on a 16-6 run—to cut Gordon's lead in half. Outside shooting from Colon and senior Scott Moran (Orange, Conn.) spurred on the streak.
 
However, the Scots stopped the momentum from swaying to far in the closing minutes, never allowing the Leopards to get the lead to less than 10 points.
 
Wentworth freshman point guard Colon led all scorers with 20 points, while adding four assists and a block in 29 minutes. Derek Mayo (Casco, Maine) was the only other Leopards' player to finish with at least 10 points. Mayo also finished with a game-high nine assists and seven rebounds to finish his college career.
 
The Leopards slightly raised their shooting percentage in the second half, but finished with making only a third of the shots taken. The Scots attempted 18 less shots from the floor, but converted on 45-percent of their attempts.
 
Dempsey led the way in scoring for the Scots, making eight of his nine attempts from the free-throw line. Miersma finished with only eight points after an early run, but led all players with 11 rebounds. The junior forward also broke the single-season record for blocks in a season in the second half with his 76^th rejection of the year.
 
Park Thomas (Scottsdale, Ariz.) scored his 1,000^th career points in the final two minutes of the game with a made free throw. Thomas scored 12 points and added seven assists to push the Scots into another CCC Championship game.
 
Wentworth finishes the season 12-15 and 8-10 in the CCC. Gordon advances to the title game at Nichols on Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. tip. The Bison survived an overtime scare from No. 4 Salve Regina on Thursday night to set up a third meeting between Nichols and Gordon. Nichols swept the season series.