POTSDAM, N.Y.—Gordon Men's Basketball saw its win streak to begin the season come a close on Saturday, as host Clarkson outlasted the Fighting Scots 78-67. Four Gordon players scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough to keep up with a Clarkson team that was red hot from the field.
The Fighting Scots fall to 2-1 on the season after two straight wins by more than 10 points where the team reached the 80-point plateau on offense. Gordon was not nearly as sharp on the offensive end, shooting a season low 37.1 percent from the field despite hitting a season-high nine threes.
Much like Friday's contest, a tough start on offense forced the Scots to have to play catchup for most of the game. Clarkson took an 11-point lead at the halfway point of the opening half as the shot from downtown was clicking early. After going 0-for-6 from behind the arch in Clarkson's first two games, Mike Hayduk (Clinton, N.Y.) hit his first three attempts of the game, while Conrad Zampier (E. Greenbush, N.Y.) added one of his own to give the Golden Knights a 22-11 advantage.
Gordon was able to put several small runs together to chip away at the deficit, but each time Clarkson's suddenly unstoppable outside attack connected to keep a hefty lead intact. The Fighting Scots were able to creep back to within five points, but trailed 35-28 at the half.
The three ball continued to be kind to the Golden Knights in the second half as Hayduk and Drew Zlogar (Clifton Park, N.Y.) each nailed one to quickly put Clarkson up by 13 once again.
The Fighting Scots rallied to within four several times in the second, capped by a good layup from Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) with just under 10 to go. However, a near four-minute scoring drought allowed the Golden Knights to grow its lead back to double digits and Gordon was never able to claw its way all the way back.
Clarkson had seven players score in the game, all with at least eight points. Derek Hart (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) led the way with 17 points and three assists. Hayduk scored 15 points with all of his five makes coming from deep. Starters Zampier and Zlogar both finished with 11 points.
Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, Calif.) returned to his ways from deep with 19 points and four made treys in a team-high 32 minutes. Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.) scored in double-digits for the third straight game with 11 and four assists. Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had 11 points off the bench.
Johnson continued his stellar play with 10 points and 17 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double effort of the year and fifth in a row dating back to last season. The senior has 53 rebounds through three games, which breaks his previous three-game high of 49 completed in the middle of last season.
Gordon hosts Salem State on Tuesday in hopes of staying above .500.
