Gordon College Men's Basketball looked to keep their historic win streak intact as they traveled to Nichols College this afternoon in a matchup against a pair of unbeaten Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponents. The Scots gritted out an exciting 76-72 victory to improve to 5-0 in league play while the Bison pick up their first CCC defeat of the season.

For the home team, Matt Morrow (So./Leicester, Mass.) led his squad with a double-double scoring 19 points and grabbing 13 boards, DeAnte Bruton (Jr./New London, Conn.) added 16 points, while Marcos Echevarria (Sr./Lynn. Mass.) put up 12 points on the day.
 
Eric Demers led all-scorers with 32 points, Jake Haar tacked on 14 points, Garrisson Duvivier had 12 boards and 10 points, while Parker Omslaer was a force to be reckon with on the boards grabbing 16 rebounds in 27 minutes to secure the victory.

Both teams continue in CCC play with the Bison traveling to Western New England to take on the Golden Bears for a 7:30 p.m. tilt on Tuesday, January 8 while the Scots stay at home as they welcome Endicott on Thursday, January 10 for a 7:30 p.m. start time.
 
How It Happened

• Gordon had a slight lead early in the first before Nichols' Bruton hit a layup to take the 13-12 lead five minutes into the game.
• The Bison would hold the lead until Haar nailed a three to tie things up at 26-all followed by an Omslaer free throw as Gordon held a short-lived lead before Bruton would regain the lead again for Nichols leading by as many as seven with two minutes remaining.
• The Scots climbed back within arm's reach after Duvivier took advantage of his free throws to shrink the lead to four, but Echevarria wanted to extend his team's lead by a little more before heading into the break as the sophomore dropped in a layup with five seconds left to take a 38-32 lead into halftime.
• With four lead changes in the first four minutes of the second half, Gordon led by as many as six after a Noah Szilagyi three. However, the duo of Morrow and Echevarria for Nichols brought the game to another tie at 55 even with 11:29 to go in regulation.
• The Bison did not have an answer to stop Demers as the junior scored eight of Gordon's final nine points to close out the game including a trio of foul shots to take a five-point lead with 34 second left on the clock. 
• Bruton hit a three-pointer with three seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough as the Scots battled to a 76-72 win.

Beyond The Box Score

• Eric Demers had a season-high 32 points, while Parker Omslaer notched a career-high 16 rebounds.
• Today's win marks the first time the Scots have defeated the Bison since they beat them in the 2014 CCC Championship game.
• As said by Head Coach Tod Murphy: "I expected more of a 106-102 game, but it's great to know that we can grind out a win against a very good team. Our guys played with a lot of courage tonight even though it wasn't one of our best games offensively. Nichols is an outstanding team, and it's nice to know that we can compete with the best on any given night. I'm very proud of the toughness that we played with tonight."