SALEM — The Salem State Vikings erased a 12-point deficit to comeback to win 79-77 over the Fighting Scots of Gordon Tuesday night at the Twohig Gymnasium. Salem State improves to 3-2 while Gordon falls to 2-2. Salem State was led by Shaquan Murray (Boston, MA) who scored 19 points on 5-11 shooting.
Salem State didn’t have an answer for the Fighting Scots’ offense as Gordon opened up on a 10-0 run. Noah Szilagyi (Highlands Ranch, CO) tallied five points during the run including a three-pointer to force a Vikings’ timeout in the first three minutes of play. However, Salem State cut the Fighting Scots lead to 13-8 after a Ryan Cloutier (Pelham, NH) mid range jumper and slam. Midway through the half, Gordon went on another scoring spurt that gave them a 13-point edge, the largest margin of the half. During that stretch, Luke Meyer (Patchogue, NY) scored four points while Jake Haar (Huntington Beach, CA) added a three. Haar shot 3-5 from beyond the arc as he added 12 points to help the Fighting Scots take a 44-34 lead going into the second half. Murray led Salem State with 10 first half points while Marcus Faison (Cambridge, MA) totaled eight points in the half.
Salem State cut the deficit to five points with 15:14 minutes left to play in the game after Zach Hurynowicz (Burlington, MA) scored four consecutive points taking the ball strong to the basket. The Vikings battled their way down to a one-point deficit after a pair of Murray free throws and a Cloutier fast break lay up. Salem State’s shooters came to life midway through the half as Billy Muse (Salem, MA) knocked down a three to cut the deficit to three. Moments later, Cloutier knotted the game at 61-61 after draining a three-pointer from the corner to gain momentum for the Vikings.
After taking a slight 66-63 lead, Gordon College fouled Shyheim Davis (Boston, MA), who converted the three-point play to bring the score back to even. Salem State took their first lead of the game as Hurynowicz knocked down a transition three to take a 70-67 edge. Later, Muse took back the lead for Salem State as he came off a double screen to sink a three ball to give the Vikings a 77-74 advantage. However, with 58 seconds left Garrison Duvivier (Brockton, MA) made a lay up to cut the deficit to 77-76. Davis came up big for Salem State as he grabbed two huge offensive rebounds to extend the Vikings’ possessions, killing the clock.
With seven seconds left, Jake Hart (Allendale, NJ) was fouled, awarding him two shots. However, after he sank the first one to cut the deficit to one, he missed the second one after his team called a timeout. With five seconds remaining, Gordon College desperately fouled Faison, sending him to the line for two shots. After making the first to put the Vikings’ atop 79-77, Faison missed the second, but stole the ball back from Duvivier to secure the 79-77 win.
Faison added nine points and twelve rebounds while Davis contributed with 16 points off the bench. Hurynowicz inished with 15 points for Salem State. The Fighting Scots leading scorers were Duvivier who scored 16 points followed by Haar who tallied 15 points. Gordon committed 20 turnovers to just 11 for Salem State.
The Fighting Scots will host the Golden Bears of Western New England University at 7:30 p.m. on December 2nd. The Vikings travel to face-off against the Engineers of MIT on December 3rd for a 7:00 p.m. start time.
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Women’s College Hockey
Salem— The Salem State Vikings were taken down by the Nor’Easters of the University of New England by a score of 3-0 on Tuesday night at Rockett Arena. Salem State drops to 3-5 on the season while the University of New England moves to 2-4-1.
The first period was a game of possession played mostly in the Vikings’ end, as the Nor’Easters outshot the Vikings 13-2. The University of New England broke the stalemate when Emily Corrales (West Hartford, CT) scored in traffic in front of the net to make it 1-0.
The second period proved to be a stalemate as neither team scored, but the Nor’Easters continued to dominate play as they registered 12 of their game-high 42 shots in the period.
The University of New England put the game away in the third, scoring twice to cement the 3-0 win. Shannon Smith (Naperville, III) made it 2-0 when she took a shot from the blue line that went past Vikings’ goalie Jenn Toussaint (Reading, MA). Marissa Clifford-Biederman (Lee, NH ) iced the game when she scored the third Nor’Easters goal with less than two minutes remaining.
Mary Wirth (South Elgin, III) recorded two assists for the University of New England. Jenn Toussaint (Reading, MA) stopped 39 shots for the Vikings, while Sydney Helmbrecht (Grand Rapids, MN) made all nine saves for the Notr’Easters.
The University of New England will host Salem State University in a rematch on Sunday at 2:00 PM.
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Southern Maine Shuts Out Salem State 1-0
GORHAM, Maine — Senior Todd Bannerman (Georgetown, Ont.) scored the only goal of the game with 8:49 remaining in the third period as the University of Southern Maine Huskies shut out the visiting Salem State University Vikings 1-0 in a non-conference men’s ice hockey game Tuesday evening at the USM Ice Arena.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Huskies, and got them back to .500 at 4-4 overall. The Vikings dropped their second straight one-goal decision to fall back to .500 at 3-3.
Bannerman took a pass from freshman Parker Sanderson (Bangor, Maine) and beat Salem State sophomore goalie Jason Pucciarelli (Newmarket, Ont.) from the high slot just inside the right post. The goal was the fourth of the season for Bannerman.
The goal stood up as USM sophomore goaltender Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.) stopped all 24 shots he faced to earn his first collegiate shutout. Shapiro came up big with about five minutes to play stopping a redirected shot on goal by junior John Needham (Medford, Mass.) with the left pad, and the rebound took a fortunate bounce over a Salem State forward’s stick.
Southern Maine finished the game with a 26-24 edge in shots on goal. Pucciarelli made 25 saves before being lifted for the extra skater with 43 seconds to play as the Vikings pressed for a tying goal.
Southern Maine returns to the USM Ice Arena on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) to host Wentworth Institute of Technology in non-conference action. Salem State is back in action on Sunday (1:35 p.m.) at Suffolk University.
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BEVERLY – The Endicott women’s basketball team dropped a narrow 60-56 non-conference contest to visiting Keene St. College Tuesday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.
With the loss, the Gulls fell to 1-2 overall, while Keene St. improved to 5-0 on the season.
It was a back and forth affair to start the game as the Owls pulled ahead 7-5 with 6:52 remaining in the first quarter and never look back as the first half ended with Keene St. up 30-24 heading into the break.
The Owls came out of the gate and dropped 21 points in the third quarter, their highest quarter total of the game to ride a 51-37 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The Gulls outscored the Owls, 19-9, in the fourth quarter, but the rally fell just short in the waning seconds.
Senior guard Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) tallied a team-leading 21 points, seven assists, and five rebounds to go with a career-high nine steals.
BEYOND THE BOX
- The Owls’ largest lead of the game came at the end of the third quarter, up 51-37.
- The Gulls outshot the Owls from the free throw line, 60 percent to 52.9 percent, but both teams shot 36 percent from the field.
- The Gulls forced 23 turnovers and turned them into 24 points.
- Keene St. out-rebounded Endicott, 49-34.
- Cuddy’s nine steals bested her previous game-high of eight set on Dec. 3, 2014 against Gordon.
- Cuddy’s nine steals ties a single-game program record held by Ashley Wright set on Feb. 21, 2009 against Curry.
- Sophomore forward Sam Charette (Wenham, Mass.) grabbed six rebounds in her return to the hardwood and netted four points.
- Sophomore guard Hannah Keirnan (Wenham, Mass.) added 11 points and four rebounds.
- Sophomore guard Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) and sophomore forward Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) chipped in 11 points and nine points, respectively, for the Gulls.
FOR THE FOES
- Sophomore guard Sandi Purcell (Hudson, N.H.) poured in a game-high 26 points to lead the floor.
- Senior guard Kelsey Cognetta (Stamford, Conn.) chipped in 13 points.
- Junior forward Sarah Kober (Easthampton, Mass.) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
- The Owls’ 5-0 start is best start in recent history, since 2011-12 when the team went 4-1 to open the schedule.
- Tonight’s win was the closest margin of victory for the Owls so far this season.
- Endicott is 1-5 all-time and 0-3 at home against Keene St. dating back prior to the 2002 season.
The Gulls (1-2) will open CCC play on the road at Nichols on Wednesday, December 2 at 5:30 p.m. in Dudley, Mass. The Owls (5-0) return to action on Tuesday, December 1 vs. Rensselaer at 6:00 p.m.
Information supplied by Salem State and Endicott College Sports Information Departments.
