DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College men's basketball team has secured the No. 1 seed in this week's Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament and will host No. 8 UNE Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Nichols Athletic Center.

The Bison – who earned the No. 1 seed for the fourth-consecutive season – closed the regular season with a mark of 20-5 and enter the playoffs riding an eight-game winning streak. They posted a 15-3 conference record, which earned them a share of the title with defending champion Endicott, but the Bison won the tiebreaker because they swept No. 3 seed Roger Williams.

Nichols is led by sophomore Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.), who leads the conference and ranks 10th in the nation in scoring at 23.4 ppg. In two games against UNE this season, Echevarria averaged 13.5 ppg and 6.5 apg. Freshman DeAnte Bruton (New London, N.H.) is second on both the team and in the conference with 21.4 ppg and has been named CCC Rookie of the Week on seven occasions this season. Bruton averaged 18.5 ppg and 5.0 apg in two meetings with the Nor'easters. Classmate Jerome Cunningham (Westbury, N.Y.) averaged a double-double in two games against UNE in 2016-17, scoring 12.5 ppg and snaring 10.5 rpg.

The Nor'easters enter the playoffs with a 7-18 mark (5-13 CCC) and have dropped their last three. Senior Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Texas) averages a team-best 13.9 ppg while junior Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) posted 9.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 4.1 apg. Parker poured in a team-high 21 points in an 87-68 loss to the Bison on January 7 in Biddeford, Maine and freshman Jackson McCoy (East Montpelier, Vt.) netted 12 points to lead UNE this past Saturday in an 86-69 defeat in Dudley.

Nichols leads the all-time series with UNE 21-5, and has won 14 of the last 15 meetings. The lone defeat, however, came two years ago in the CCC Quarterfinal round as the Nor'easters upset the top-seeded Bison 50-49 when Parker sank a three at the buzzer.

In other playoff action, No. 2 Endicott hosts No. 7 Salve Regina, No. 3 Roger Williams entertains No. 6 Eastern Nazarene, and No. 4 Gordon plays No. 5 Wentworth.