Coming off of a dominant win this past weekend, Gordon College Men's Basketball traveled to Quincy, Mass. tonight to square up against ex-Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) rivals, Eastern Nazarene (ENC) Lions. After ENC earned an early double-digit lead in the first, the Fighting Scots refused to go down without a fight as they battled back from a 20-point deficit to clinch the 91-89 victory in the final seconds of the game.
Michael Makiej guided the Scots to victory once again tonight as the hot junior net a game-high 34-points while collecting 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, veteran legend
Garrett Sattazahn booked 17 points on the night as well as teammate
Bryce Smith who matched Sattazahn with 17 points as well while dishing out eight assists.
The Lions were led by
Levi White who sunk 20 points followed by
Bernie McGuinness and
JaWaun Moore who racked up 14 and 13 points, respectively.
How It Happened
- Sattazahn got Gordon on the board first as the senior sunk one from downtown less than a minute into the game. The Scots held their slight edge until an ENC three gave the Lions a two-point advantage (10-8) before the Fighting Scots tied it up at 10 at the 16:11 mark. From that moment on, ENC flipped a switch to take a 20-point lead after a run of three-pointers to bring the score to 39-19 with 7:26 remaining in the first half. The Scots attempted to shrink the deficit, but ENC held tight to their commanding lead, heading into the break, 47-27.
- The Scots hit the court hungry for baskets as Caleb Scott got his squad going with a layup, catalyzing a 13-point run to bring the Fighting Scots within seven (40-47) with 16:20 remaining before the Lions could add to their tally from the previous half. Gordon continued to chip away, cutting the Lions' 20-point edge down to one (55-56) after a trio of threes from Justin Yu, Sattazahn, and Smith. The Lions battled back to regain a four-point edge (59-55) at the 11:45 mark, but the Fighting Scots quickly knotted it up at 59-all within the minute (11:14) before flipping the script to take the lead, 63-61 after a Makiej layup. Both teams went point for point, trading the advantage before the Lions jumped ahead with back to back baskets from downtown broken up by a layup from the hot hands of Makiej (83-79) with 3:30 on the clock. Just over 30 seconds later, Sattazahn continued to show off from behind the arc, hitting his third three of the night to make it a one-point game (82-83). With 1:30 left in the tight game, Yu forced an ENC turnover before a layup from Smith gave the Scots the edge, 84-83. However, the Lions immediately answered back with a three-pointer just 16 seconds before Scott tied it up at 86 with a layup of his own with 50 ticks remaining. The Lions went on to make a layup and a free throw to go ahead by three but Smith came in clutch, hitting one from downtown with a mere 15 seconds left to lock it up, 89-89. With the ball in the hands of the Lions, the Scots forced a turnover that tonight's leading scorers were able to capitalize on as Sattazahn went up for a layup with two seconds remaining before Makeij sealed the win for the Fighting Scots with the tip-in at the sound of the buzzer to take the heart-pounding comeback victory, 91-89.
Beyond The Box Score
- Michael Makeij has earned 30 or more points in half of the Scots' games this season so far.
- The Fighting Scots continue non-Conference action on Saturday, November 18 when they invite the Worcester State Lancers for their home-opener at 3 p.m.
