WENHAM, Mass.—A 52-point second half broken open a game tied at halftime, as Gordon won its home opener over Lesley 86-70. After a sloppy first half, both times settled into a back-and-forth offensive game, but Gordon hit shots down the stretch to take the victory from the Lynx at the Bennett Athletic Center.
 
Gordon improves to 1-0 and won its first season opener since 2009 when the Scots edged Husson by two points. Lesley drops to 0-1 and has now lost to Gordon in each of the last four seasons.
 
The Scots opened the game with a bit of fire, making each of its first two shots from behind the arch on attempts from Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.). Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) made a put back to put the Lynx in an early 8-0 hole.
 
Lesley clawed back little by little and eventually cut the lead to one at 12-11 when Charlie Reznikoff (Wilton, Conn.) drained a three at the top of the key. After a Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, Calif.) triple to push the lead back to four, Lesley scored four straight to draw the game back to even.
 
The two teams traded buckets the rest of the half and sat tied 34-34 at halftime. Both teams struggled from the floor, with neither above the 35-percent mark in the first half. Though, Gordon's 7-15 effort from three allowed them to counter 15 made free throws fro the Lynx.
 
Gordon came out of the locker room more spirited, scoring just 16 seconds into period on a pretty give-and-go between Johnson and Garrisson Duvivier (Brockton, Mass.). Duvivier scored on Gordon's next possession to open a four-point lead and the Scots led the rest of the way.
 
Xeo Golding (Windermere, Fla.) was electric for the Lynx with 24 points in 33 minutes. He also put up seven total rebounds and led the Lynx with two steals. Junior Devon Mayo (Newport News, Va.) struggled from the field, but made 12 of his 14 free-throw attempts to finish second on the team with 14 points. Mayo and point guard Terrell Toney (Lakewood, Wash.) each contributed four assists.
 
Pierre St. Simon (Farmingdale, N.Y.) was the only other Lesley player in double-figures with 10 points. Senior Corbin Polec (Okemos, Mich.) had a solid game with eight points and nine boards.
 
Gordon was led by the hard work of Johnson, who put up a double-double at 17 points and 11 boards. The power forward also led the team with two blocks. Talented freshmen Duvivier and Eric Demers (West Wareham, Mass.) both had high-impact games with an inside-outside approach. Demers hit three triples and finished with 15 points, while Duvivier grabbed a stat line of 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
 
Yang almost made Gordon history with a near miss on a triple double. The sophomore point guard had 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in 30 minutes.
 
Gordon was helped by a better second half from the floor with a clip of 50-percent over the final 20 minutes. Lesley also improved in shooting percentage, but still fell at 32.8 for the game.
 
Lesley has a short layover before going on the road to Henniker, N.H. for a 7 p.m. tip on Monday. Gordon hosts NAIA opponent Fisher on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., a team that beat them in 2014-15.

The Scots bested their season-best from a season ago in three pointers made (9) and points in a game (85).