WORCESTER, Mass. – Trailing by three points at the half, the Worcester State men's basketball team found their stride and finished the first half of their 2021-22 schedule with a 71-60 over Gordon College in a non-conference affair at Brissette '88 Competition Court on Saturday afternoon.
Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, and Suubi Nkugwa (Chelmsford, Mass.) added a spark off the bench with nine points, including a pair of three-pointers to help the Lancers (5-8) pull away.
Chris Cardoso (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) led the Lancers with 20 points and 14 rebounds, along with three blocks and two steals. He gave the home team their first lead of the second half (39-38) when he hit a layup with 11:37 to go in a low-scoring affair.
Gordon (3-3) answered with back to back buckets by Bryce Smith (San Francisco, Calif.) and Garrett Sattazahn (Morris, Conn.), but Cardoso stole the ball and knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game at 42. That sparked a 12-1 run by the Lancers that included a three-pointer from Nkugwa and three free-throws after he was fouled on another triple attempt.
Rubenskas was also a pivotal part of that spurt, with Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) repeatedly finding him under the basket, where Rubenskas finished strong, including with a dunk that put the Lancers up 56-46 with 6:11 to play.
Bjorn had 14 rebounds and 7 assists to go with eight points. Zion Hendrix (Charlotte, N.C.) and Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.) dished out four dimes apiece.
Parker Omslaer (Jackson, N.J.) answered with a dunk of his own, and Sattazahn and Smith each made three-pointers as the Scots cut the deficit to four points, 62-58, with 2:02 to play, but Bjorn muscled his way for a layup and a foul and converted the three-point play to seal the win for Worcester State.
Sattazahn had 21 points, while Omslaer added 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocks. Smith added 12 points of the bench for Gordon.
The Scots shot around the 50% mark for most of the first half, settling at 45.8% from the floor by the break.
Gordon led by 11 points with 3:08 left in the first half, but the Lancers ended the half on an 8-0 run. Otis Wheeler (Worcester, Mass.) and Nkugwa splashed three-pointers during those final three minutes, and despite shooting just 27.3% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, the Lancers trailed by just three points when they went to the locker rooms.
Nkugwa finished the game with 12 points, while Wheeler had 7 points, the only two players to score off the Worcester State bench.
Gordon has a pair of games between Christmas and New Year's, playing at Clark University on December 29th.
Worcester hits the court on January 5th when they host Salem State as they open MASCAC play.