Recap
Senior DeAnte Bruton scored 26 of his game-high 38 points in the second half as the Nichols College men's basketball team captured its fourth-consecutive Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship with a 76-75 win at top-seeded Endicott College Saturday afternoon at MacDonald Gymnasium on the campus of Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. 

The New London, Conn. native and four-time CCC First Team pick was 12-of-27 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the charity stripe to send the Bison (20-8) back to the NCAA Tournament. Junior and CCC Second Team pick Matt Morrow played the entire second half with three fouls and finished with 19 points and nine boards while sophomore Jason O'Regan came off the bench to score nine clutch points.

Senior Keith Brown led the Gulls (19-8) with 23 points in the final collegiate game of his stellar career. Freshman and CCC Rookie of the Year Jaylen Echevarria netted 21 points – including three 3-pointers – and sophomore Billy Arsenault tallied 13 points.

The Bison raced out to a 21-9 lead eight-and-a-half minutes into the contest behind six points from Bruton and three-pointers from senior Kash Jackson, and sophomores Jason O'Regan and Jaekwon Spencer. The Gulls came out of a timeout and ripped off a 14-2 run to tie the game at 23 as Echevarria knocked down a long three before tying the game on a driving layup.

The Gulls took their first lead of the stanza (31-30) on a pull-up triple from McDevitt on the fast break with 3:23 to go in the first half. Four points from Bruton and a layup from O'Regan down the stretch gave NC a 38-35 halftime lead. Echevarria led all scorers with 14 points while Bruton tallied 12 for the Bison. Morrow was 5-of-7 from the field and recorded 11 points and four rebounds before picking up his third foul.

Bruton scored nine of the first 11 Bison points to open the second half as Nichols opened up a 49-45 lead five minutes in. Minutes later, an And-1 layup from Bruton extended the lead to seven before a triple from McDevitt cut the EC deficit to four at 54-50. Morrow then answered with an And-1 layup of his own to push the lead back to seven at 57-50, and a put-back slam from Spencer shortly thereafter brought the Bison fans to their feet at 59-53. Bruton closed the first 10 minutes of the second half with 17 points.

The Nichols lead swelled to nine at 66-57 courtesy of a layup form Morrow at 9:37 before a quick 10-2 run by the Gulls made is a one-possession game with under five minutes to go. Later, with Nichols leading by four (76-72), Brown canned a three-pointer from the top of the key with Morrow's hand in his face to bring his team to within one at 76-75.

Bruton was then fouled with eight seconds left but missed the first free throw, and Brown grabbed the rebound looking to push with his team down by one. His pass from the backcourt was intercepted by Jackson with two seconds remaining and time ran out.

Three things you need to know…
-Today's contest marked the 36th all-time meeting between Nichols College and Endicott College and the third time in the last five seasons these two schools have met in the CCC Championship. The Bison are now a perfect 3-0 in those matchups.
-Nichols owned the glass all afternoon, finishing with a 44-35 edge behind 14 from Bruton and 11 from Spencer.
-Bruton's 38 points this afternoon gives him a total of 114 points in three CCC playoff wins, bringing his career point total to 2,283 points.

 Quote
"The number one word to describe this season is adversity. From injuries to losing streaks, guys were not phased. They knew what the end goal was. They stayed together. It was a blast and a fun ride." –Nichols head coach Brandon Linton 

"He was a man possessed. He is the epitome of a guy who refused to lose. There were plenty of times where it didn't look like it was going ot go our way, but DeAnte saved the day for us. Heck of a player, heck of a talent, and an even better kid." –Linton, on the play of Bruton

"It's amazing to see where we came from. Adversity hit us in the mouth from the jump when we lost one of our best big's 30 seconds into the season. We had a few three-game losing streaks and guys were hurt. Coach Linton told us 'Adversity is going to turn into prosperity.' We kept believing. We kept loving and enjoying the process day-in and day-out. Our last loss was here (at Endicott), and before the game in the locker room, we told ourselves that we weren't going to feel that again. I told the guys, 'There's no way we're going to go through all of this and not reap the reward.' I love this team so much. We fought through everything and it just feels so good right now." –Nichols senior DeAnte Bruton

Next game
March 6-7, 2020 @ NCAA Division III First Round