WENHAM, Mass.—An expected shooting showcase did not disappoint, as a late rally secured a 80-77 win for the Gordon College Fighting Scots over NAIA opponent Fisher College. The Falcons received 31 points from Tyler Shular (Norwalk, Conn.), but Gordon's sharp-shooting freshmen combined to make nine threes on the evening in the impressive early-season victory.
 
Gordon improves to 2-0 for the first time since the fall of 2009, while Fisher drops a game for the first time this season and sits at 2-1.
 
Big leads were hard to come by with both teams coming out shooting from the very start. Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) scored six of Gordon's first 10 points to grab a 10-9 lead over the visiting Falcons. However, Shular countered back with a couple made buckets of his own, including a deep three to give Fisher a 16-12 advantage.
 
After another deep ball from the Scots close the gap to one point, Fisher opened its biggest lead of the game with a 13-3 run over the next five minutes. Tyree Gross (West Roxbury, Mass.) hit a three from the extended elbow with 7:46 left in the first half to give the Falcons a 29-18 lead.
 
The three ball was kind to the Scots down the stretch as Eric Demers (W. Wareham, Mass.) and Szilagyi continued to fill up the statsheet. A trio of threes from the freshmen brought Gordon all the way back to a 33-33 tie and Garrisson Duvivier (Brockton, Mass.) regained the lead with a layup on a nifty pass from Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.).
 
Gordon and Fisher traded points the rest of the half, which gave the Scots a 39-37 lead entering the locker rooms.
 
Fisher flashed a little more offense coming out of the break and retook a four-point advantage just four minutes into the second half.
 
Two consecutive threes from another Gordon freshman, Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, Calif.) secured a 58-53 lead for Gordon with 10:58 to play in regulation. It would be Gordon's largest lead of the game.
 
Turnovers proved to be costly for the Scots over the next few minutes as the offensive began a unravel a bit. A fast break dunk by Shular off a nice steal gave the Falcons an eight-point lead with just over four to play. However, a technical foul following the jam spark a five-point run for Gordon, which included a three-point play by Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.).
 
Fisher's Darrel Grady (Staten Island, N.Y.) made an easy layup on a shake-and-bake play in the middle with 3:02 remaining to seemingly put the Falcons up for good at 77-71.
 
That's when Gordon's freshman shooting guard, Demers, took over the game. He nailed a triple in transition just seconds after Grady's lay in and got loose again with 46 ticks on the clock to tie the game at 77.
 
Grady missed a layup with 23 seconds and Yang skied up for the rebound before getting fouled by Shular. The sophomore point guard made both shots from the charity stripe and Gordon survived a miss three to steal a 80-77 game from the Falcons.
 
Shular added six steals to go with his 31 points. Penn notched 12 points and five rebounds at one of the other guard spots. Big man Rashid Mahboub (West Roxbury, Mass.) had 11 rebounds off the bench. Grady contributed eight points and a team-high seven assists.
 
All five Gordon starters were in double-figure scoring with Demers leading the charge at 19. Duvivier added a quietly efficient 17 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Szilagyi's strong first half powered him to 13 points and five rebounds, while Sam Johnson continued his good start with 12 points and nine rebounds. He also had three blocks. Yang stayed steady with 10 points, eight assists and three steals.
 
Gordon was outscored in points off turnovers and bench points, but the Scots made its most threes in a game since driving in 13 against Salve Regina in February 2014.
 
The Scots stay with a tough schedule as they head down to MIT on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tip. Fisher has a week off before going to Emerson.