Gordon College Men's Basketball traveled to Chicopee, Massachusetts to face the Elms College Blazers for their final game before Christmas Break today. The Fighting Scots started the first half strong and battled down the stretch to earn the hard fought 79-63 win over the Blazers.

For the Fighting Scots, Bernie McGuinness led all scorers with 31 points, Ryan Brooks had 15 points and six boards, Treyton Tebbs chipped in nine points, four rebounds and as many assists, and Sean Quanico added eight points.

Elms' Andrew Ciaglo and Aden Goffe each recorded nine points, while RJ Mayfield scored seven points.

How It Happened

• With his first shot of the afternoon, Bryce Smith pulled up from downtown to score his 1,000th career point and put Gordon up, 7-0 early in the first half. Midway through the frame, Quanico hit a layup in transition to make it 24-8 in favor of the Scots. However, the Blazers began to battle back and closed the gap to 36-28 at the break.
• After the Blazers consistently made it a five-point game through much of the second half, McGuinness did all he could early to stretch the Scots' lead to seven. With 8:14 remaining, Elms cut the deficit to two, but Tebbs converted a timely bruise and the bucket to pull his squad ahead, 59-53 with 5:57 to go in regulation. The reliable McGuinness was left wide open as the transfer sank back-to-back-to-back corner three's to give the Scots a 12-point lead with 2:37 on the clock. Gordon made it count at the charity stripe to close out the evening with the 16-point victory.

Beyond The Box Score

• Senior Bryce Smith eclipsed 1,000 career points this afternoon.
• Bernie McGuinness had a season-high of 31 points.
• In six out of the Scots' eight games so far this season, newcomer Ryan Brooks has scored double-digits.
• The Fighting Scots return to action on New Year's Eve as they host Bowdoin at 3 p.m. on Kanas Court.
• Said Head Coach Tod Murphy: "It's better to win ugly than to lose pretty, and that's exactly what we did today. Elms played harder than us, but fortunately for us, Bernie McGuinness hit three consecutive 3's late in the game to ensure the victory. It's not the perfect way to go into the Christmas break, but we are going into the break with five wins which equals our total from last year. That is something our team should be proud of, but not satisfied with. We need to keep working to get better each and every day. It's not about the results, it's about the process, and we need to stay focused on the process. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!"