SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Gordon Men's Basketball shook off a slow start to beat host Western New England 74-70 and snap a four-game losing streak in Commonwealth Coast Conference play. Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) had a standout performance with 21 points and 17 rebounds to lead Gordon to a much-needed boost.
 
The Fighting Scots improve to 8-10 this season and 5-6 in the CCC, while Western New England drops to 6-12 and 4-7 respectively.
 
Gordon fell behind by as many as 11 points early in the first half, giving up a 9-0 to the Golden Bears in the middle of the period. Garrisson Duvivier (Brockton, Mass.) broke the Fighting Scots' silence around the 10-minute mark and Gordon eventually cut the lead to one point at 29-28.
 
Trailing by two heading into the intermission, Johnson knotted the game on the opening possession of the second half—the first tie since the game's first minute. Just a minute later, Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.) hit the Scots first triple of the game and in turn, gave Gordon a three-point lead at 36-33.
 
The two teams traded the lead back and forth for the rest of the half. Gordon built up a five-point lead three times in the second half, but the Golden Bears would battle back to take the advantage the first two times. After shooting poorly from the free-throw line over the first 38 minutes of regulation, Gordon nailed five of its final six attempts to take a two-possession lead it would not relinquish.
 
Gordon hosts Eastern Nazarene on Saturday at the Bennett Athletic Center.
 
For the Foes

• Mike Gelineau led all players with 24 points, 11 of which came in the early run by the Golden Bears.
• Zack Askew had an efficient night with 14 points, but finished well below his season average in rebounds with only five.
• Luis Agrait had 13 points and six assists for WNE. Mikey Pettway also had six dishes.

 
For the Scots

• Johnson recorded his 10^th double-double for the season, which leads the CCC on the year.
• Duvivier also went over the 20-point summit with exactly 20 tallies and five boards. The freshman had four of Gordon's six steals.
• Eric Demers (W. Wareham, Mass.) had two of the Scots three made triples and finished with 16 points and a team-high four assists.

 
Quick Stats

• Gordon's bench had a season low six points.
• The Scots did not hit a three-pointer in the first half, signifying the first time that has happened in 2015-16.
• Johnson and Duvivier are the top two players in CCC offensive rebounds, combining for 7.7 per game. Johnson is currently 10^th in the nation in offensive rebounds and 12^th in rebounding averaging.
• Gordon has won seven straight against Western New England, the longest active streak over any team in conference.