DeAnte Bruton scored six of his 26 points in the final 63 seconds to help Nichols get past Western New England. Nichols athletics photo by Brian Foley

It has been a tough season for the Nichols men's basketball team, to say the least. The Bison came into the 2019-20 campaign off a string of six consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins, including last year's 28-3 run to the Elite Eight.

At 11-8 just two weeks ago, and having lost four out of five, Nichols seemed destined to have that streak go by the wayside, but the Bison are not dead yet, and they demonstrated that on Tuesday night. Nichols improved to 14-8, scoring the final 20 points of the game to stun Western New England, 92-87.

• Tuesday men's scoreboard
• Trombley scores 30 as Oneonta tries to keep pace in SUNYAC
• Tuesday women's scoreboard
• Gordon rallies from 15 down in fourth against RWU

Senior DeAnte Bruton scored a game-high 26 points – including six in the final 1:03 of the game – while sophomore Jason O'Regan scored seven of his nine points over the final 3:36 when the Bison found themselves down 87-72. Junior Nate Tenaglia hit the go-ahead free throw after he was fouled taking a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left and finished with 14 points.

Western New England (14-9, 9-5 CCC) committed four turnovers in a span of 43 seconds in the final minute of the contest.

The Golden Bears opened up a 15-point lead on a pair of free throws from Zach Tavitian with 3:36 remaining. O'Regan started the epic comeback by scoring seven-straight points to make it 87-79 with 1:48 on the clock before a layup from Bruton 45 seconds later cut the deficit to six (87-81) with 1:03 to go. Bruton then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and sank both free throws after being fouled to make it 87-83.

Following a timeout, senior Kash Jackson stole the next inbounds pass and converted an and-1 layup to make it 87-86. The Golden Bears then went down the floor and turned the ball over for the third consecutive possession, and Tenaglia was fouled at the other end while attempting a 3-pointer. He knocked down the second and third free throws to give the Bison their first lead since midway through the first half at 88-87.

The Golden Bears inbounded the ball with 33 seconds on the clock and appeared to be holding for the final shot, however Bruton intercepted a pass by McGuire and was fouled. He sank both attempts to stretch the Nichols lead to three (90-87). Seconds later, Bruton iced the game with a steal on the next WNE possession by hitting a pair of free throws.

WNE was led by junior Alex Sikorski with 23 points (9-of-13 FG), who is now five points shy of 1,000 for his career. Senior Mike McGuire drained four of the 14 Golden Bears' 3-pointers on the night and finished with 18 points.