This winter, the Gordon College Men’s Basketball team once again had a historic run. While they were unsuccessful in winning the championship game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), this year’s squad had an impressive season. The Fighting Scots are led by coach Tod Murphy, who just completed his 10th season coaching for Gordon College.
But to suggest that their season was solely a result of their coach’s direction is to dramatically understate the serious threat on the court posed by this powerhouse set of athletes. Consistently, Garrisson Duvivier, Noah Szilagyi, and Eric Demers led a team deep with talent to victory this season. A quick survey of the men’s basketball team’s past ten years reveals what a breakthrough season this truly was.
In the ‘13-’14 academic year, the Scots went 11-15. Year over year, the men’s basketball team continued to improve. This year, their final record was 23-4 . Murphy’s ability to recruit and retain top talent has created a winning formula that fueled this historic run. While Duvivier and Szilagyi are both seniors, Demers will be back next year and rising junior Parker Omslaer will continue to lead the team.
In the semi-final home game against Roger Williams University (RWU), Garrisson Duvivier broke the Gordon record for the most points scored by any single player on the men’s basketball squad. Besting Jim Petty’s 1995 record of 1,902 points, Duvivier finished his senior season with 1,935 points. Achieving a place in the 1,000 point club is prestigious in and of itself; Duvivier almost broke 2,000 in his career.
In the final home game of the season against RWU, the squad had an incredible game, with hundreds of fans filling the gym to cheer them on. Head Coach Tod Murphy, when asked for his thoughts on the game said: “That was a great college basketball game. Both teams played at such a high level. That may have been the best offensive game of any team I have ever coached. To beat a very good Roger Williams team to earn the right to play in the conference championship game, and to have Garrisson Duvivier break the all time scoring record on the same night is just incredible. I’m so proud of Garrisson and so proud of our team. We’ve got one more to go.”
When they traveled to Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. on Saturday, February 23rd, the Scots faced top ranked Nichols in the conference championship. Just over a week prior, the Nichols Bisons had visited Gordon, overwhelming the Scots in the final game of the regular season. Historically, Gordon has maintained the upper hand against the small Southern Massachusetts liberal arts college, with an all time record of 10-6 against Nichols.
The Nichols squad this year was strong and ultimately they won the conference title. Nichols #4, Marcos Echevarria set an all time record for most points scored in the CCC. Coach Murphy acknowledged the incredible quality with which the Bison’s offense played. “I am so proud of this team. We just happened to have a great team the same year that Nichols had an outstanding team. Any other year and we would have won the championship. I want to say thank you to the seven seniors who have given me so many great memories over the past four years.”
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