BEVERLY, Mass. – Nichols College junior Marcos Echevarria scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Bison to an 88-68 win over Endicott College in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball matchup on Wednesday night in Beverly, Mass.
The Bison improve to 15-3 overall and remain on top of the CCC standings at 9-2 in league play. Endicott drops to 12-6 and 7-4 in conference games with the setback. Nichols has another tough road test on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Gordon College for a 3:00 p.m. matchup with the Fighting Scots.
Echevarria was only two points off his career-high of 37 points which he has done twice against Lasell (11/19/16) and Endicott (1/14/17). The junior also added seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals while connecting on 11-of-20 shots, 6-of-12 three-pointers, and hitting all seven of his free throws.
Senior Daequon Antoine overcame a slow start to score 16 of his 18 points in the second half with five rebounds, two steals, and a block. Freshman Matt Morrow registered his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds to go with four blocks. Sophomore DeAnte Bruton returned to the lineup with four points, six rebounds, and four assists, while classmate Tyler Dion chipped in six points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Sophomore Keith Brown led the Gulls with 16 points, three rebounds, and two assists. The CCC's leading scorer at 25.1 points per game was held to just 4-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-10 three-pointers in the game. Senior Joel Villa added 11 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, while junior Rob O'Brien added 10 points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
The Bison shot 47.8% (33-of-69) from the field, 35.7% (10-of-28) from beyond the arc, and 77.8% (7-of-9) from the charity stripe in the win. Endicott was held to 31.9% (22-of-69) shooting on the night, including 30% (9-of-30) from three, and 76.9% (10-of-13) from the free throw line. The Bison held a slight 44-41 advantage in rebounding, and forced 13 Endicott turnovers while committing only 10 of their own.
Nichols opened the game on an 8-3 run capped by a triple from Echevarria, but the Gulls answered with a 10-2 run of its own to take a 13-10 advantage with 10:25 to play in the first half. Morrow ended the stretch with a layup, and he later gave Nichols a short-lived 17-16 lead nearly with 7:36 remaining. Endicott responded again, using an 11-4 run over the next few minutes to take a 27-21 lead and force a Nichols timeout.
The Bison took advantage of the stoppage, using a 13-0 run to grab a 34-27 lead with just over a minute to play in the opening half. Endicott junior Rob O'Brien would score the final four points of the period as Nichols took a 34-31 lead into halftime.
Nichols stole back the momentum to begin the second half, racing out to an 11-2 run to open up a 45-33 lead following a triple from Antoine. Brown hit three free throws to make it a 49-40 game with 14:03 to play, and five-straight points from the Gulls later in the frame pulled the Gulls to within 51-45 with 11:30 remaining. Antoine and Echevarria answered with back-to-back triples to push the Nichols advantage back to 57-45 and force an Endicott timeout.
Villa scored five-straight points to climb back to within 57-50 and 8:15 to play, but a 10-3 run by the Bison that included a pair of Antoine triples extended the lead to 67-53 and forced another Endicott timeout.
Endicott would only get as close as 12 the rest of the way as the Nichols lead grew to as many as 20 over the final 5:44 of action to help the Bison cruise to the 88-68 victory.
All-Time Series
Wednesday night marked the 31st meeting between the two programs and Endicott leads the all-time series, 18-13. Nichols has won two-straight and three of the last four meetings with the Gulls.