Vikings Fall to Scots in Overtime

SALEM, Mass. – Salem State men's basketball was back in Twohig Gymnasium tonight as they welcomed the Fighting Scots of Gordon College for a non-conference bout. A high-scoring back and forth game required an extra five minutes of basketball to determine the 102-94 victory for the visiting team, dropping Salem State to 1-5 on the season.

Salem State saw production from multiple Vikings on the night with Josiah Green (Springfield, Mass.) leading the way with 17 points, Chris MacDonald (Wakefield, Mass.) and Conner Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) each tacked on 16, and Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) and Jarrett Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) added 15 of their own in the effort.

The Fighting Scots were spearheaded by Garrett Sattazahn (Morris, Conn.) who exploded for 31 points, followed by Bryce Smith (San Francisco, Calif.) who added 24 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Justin Yu (North Brunwick, N.J.) and Treyton Tebbs (Cedar City, Utah) rounded off the scoring with 19 and 15 points, respectively.

The opening five minutes of play saw back and forth action until Bryce Smith found the bottom of the net to bring the score to 12-7, giving Gordon the five-point cushion. Shortly after, the Vikings were able to string together six unanswered points in less than two minutes to put them back on top. But, it was not until the 11:30 mark that the Vikings saw their greatest advantage of nine points, after C. Byrne went 2-2 from the line. Smith put his squad back on top after scoring four unanswered points of his own to bring the score to 33-30 in the Scots favor. The Vikings did not back down and finished the half on 8-0 run to go into halftime with the slight 47-42 tilt.

The biggest lead of the game for either side came 2 minutes into the second half when Castillo made an easy one to bring the score to 57-47. A few minutes later, Sattazahn was able to bring the Scots within six after he added back-to-back points to the tally. The Vikings found themselves back up by double digits after Louis stole the ball and finished with a dunk on the other end to put the crowd on their feet and the Vikings back up by ten.

The Scots mounted a comeback with under three minutes to play after back-to-back three pointers, followed by a layup cut the Vikings lead to one, forcing the home team to call a timeout. The timeout worked in favor of the Scots though, as Sattazahn nailed a three giving his team the 85-83 edge. Smith was then able to convert 1-2 from the charity stripe, flipping the script and putting the Vikings down three. With three seconds to go, MacDonald went up for a three to send the game to overtime, which he would have to grit out at the free throw line as he was fouled on his way down. Despite the pressure, MacDonald went an impressive 3 for 3 from the free throw line, sending the game into overtime with a score of 86-86.

Both teams exchanged three-pointers to open the extra five minutes of basketball, keeping the game tied at 89 apiece. With three minutes to play, a layup from Rob Shelansky (East Hartland, Conn.) gave the Scots a five-point cushion which would allow enough distance for the Scots to take the eventual 102-94 victory over the Vikings.