After four road games, Gordon College Men's Basketball returned to the Bennett Center to host the Worcester State (WSU) Lancers on Kanas Court this afternoon where the Fighting Scots held the edge heading into the second before a late WSU rally topped off by a buzzer beating basket gave the Lancers the narrow 87-85 win. 

The Scots were led by Garrett Sattazahn who netted a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds to mark his first double-double of the young season, meanwhile, Michael Makiej stayed hot for Gordon, recording 22 points while collecting nine rebounds in the effort.

For the Lancers, Ryan Rubenskas recorded 23 points while grabbing a whopping 14 rebounds. Not far behind him was Aaron Nkrumah who booked 21 points.

How It Happened

• The Lancers jumped out to an early lead, grabbing an eight-point advantage (16-8) at the 14:23 mark. It wasn't until 10:32 when Caleb Scott gave his squad the edge after landing a layup, however, WSU quickly retaliated with a three-pointer to knot the score up at 25-all. The squads traded points until Gordon's Justin Yu sunk one from downtown to catalyze an 11-point run for the Fighting Scots including a trio of threes from Yu along with a Makiej layup in the mix (44-32). The Lancers attempted to close the gap but the Fighting Scots held tight to their double-digit lead, heading into the locker room up by 12 (50-38).
• Coming back from the half, Gordon immediately tacked onto their already dominant lead, taking a massive 20-point advantage thanks to a Sattazahn three to give them their biggest edge of the game (58-38). Sattazahn stayed hot from behind the arc, hitting another three at the 12:47 mark to bring the score to 73-50. However, the Lancers did not go down without a fight, stirring up a 20-point rally in the span of six minutes to come within three (77-80) with 4:28 on the clock. Keeping the game close, the Lancers eventually made it a one-point game with a layup in the paint at the 1:16 mark before Scott extended Gordon's lead to three after successfully sinking two free throws (85-82) with half a minute remaining in regulation, forcing a WSU timeout. With two ticks on the clock, WSU's Zion Hendrix hit a three to tie it up 85-85. With overtime in sight, the Lancers chose to end the game there, forcing a Scot turnover  with 1.3 seconds remaining before inbounding the ball under the hoop to find Lancers' Joe Nuttall who quickly released the ball at the edge of the paint to net the game-winner at the sound of the buzzer. 

Beyond The Box Score

• Garrett Sattazahn booked his first double-double of the 2022 season.
• The Scots face the Salem State Vikings on Tuesday, November 22 at 5 p.m. on the road before Thanksgiving break.