Gordon Pulls Away in Second Half for 74-59 Victory over Golden Bears

McCourt leads three Golden Bears in double figures with 13 points

WENHAM, Mass. (January 21, 2017) – Gordon College pulled away from Western New England University down the stretch in the second half for a 74-59 victory this afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at the Bennet Center.

Top Performers
• Freshman forward Mike McCourt (Lincoln, R.I.) led the way for the Golden Bears with a team-high 13 points, five rebounds and four steals in 23 minutes off the bench.
• Freshmen forward Nana Appiah (Patterson, Calif.) shot 5-of-11 from the field and 2-of-4 from the free throw line on his way to 12 points.
• Freshman guard Nick DeGennaro (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) rounded out Western New England's three double figure scorers with ten points off the bench.

• Senior forward Sam Johnson (Chatham, Mass.) paced the Fighting Scots with 16 points and a game-high 27 rebounds.
• Sophomore guard Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, Calif.) made 4-of-6 three-point attempts and finished with 12 points.

Game Review
• Gordon raced out to a 19-5 lead less than five minutes into the contest as Haar knocked down a trio of early three-pointers.
• A layup by freshman guard Mike McGuire (Garden City, N.Y.) with 11:28 remaining in the half brought Western New England back to within nine (21-12), and the Golden Bears faced the same deficit (34-25) after McCourt drained a pair of free throws with 1:42 on the clock. McGuire connected from beyond the arc in the closing seconds of the half as Western New England trailed 36-30 at the break.
• Appiah scored eight points over the first 5:05 of the second half, bringing the Golden Bears back to within two (42-40).
• That would be as close as Western New England got, however, as sophomore Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) answered with a three-pointer on Gordon's next possession, and the Fighting Scots held the Golden Bears off the rest of the way.
• Another Szilagyi triple with 7:18 remaining extended Gordon's lead back into double figures (59-47), and the home team continued to pull away down the stretch to secure the win.

Notes
• Western New England shot 33.3% from the field, 17.9% from three-point range, and 66.6% from the charity stripe.
• Led by Johnson's dominant performance on the glass, Gordon outrebounded the Golden Bears 45-29.
• Appiah has now scored in double figures in consecutive games and three times overall this season.

Up Next
Western New England (3-13, 2-8 CCC) returns home to host Salve Regina on Tuesday, while Gordon (10-7, 7-3 CCC) travels to Quincy to take on Eastern Nazarene.