DUDLEY, Mass. (1/23/24) – On a snowy Tuesday night, the Nichols College men's basketball team remained red hot by beating the University of Hartford, 77-64, pushing their recent win streak to nine consecutive games.
With the win, the Bison move to 15-3 (8-1 CCC) on the season, while Hartford drops to 6-11 with losses in five of their last six matchups.
It was another great evening for junior forward Deshaun Nettles, who led the Bison with his second double-double in three contests, scoring 19 points with 13 rebounds. Senior guard Tavon Jones matched his 19 points on 8-of-17 (47.1%) shooting, while fellow senior finished with 17 points for the Bison. Junior Dominic Mello would also finish in double-figures with 12 points. Nichols shot 28-of-54 (51.9%) from the field, with 52 of their points coming from inside the paint.
The Bison found themselves at the free-throw line just 00:15 into the action as Derring drew a foul from three-point range, resulting in the first point for the Bison on the first shot attempt. Nichols went on to open the half with a 9-0 run, with four of the points belonging to freshman Jason Ofcarcik. However, through the midway point of the half, Hartford would slowly climb back into the race by shrinking the Bison lead down to 22-20 with 5:23 left to play. Despite their efforts, the Hawks failed to claim any lead over the Bison in the half, as Nichols stretched their lead back out to 10 points on an 8-0 run across a 1:30 span. The difference then became 16 points by halftime, as the Bison finished the frame with five unanswered points for a 42-26 lead.
A trio of free throws by Mello extended the Bison lead to 19 points to begin the second half. In an effort to make one final push, the Hawks followed it up with a brief 7-2 run to cut Nichols' lead down to 14 with under 15-minutes to play, but again failed to slow the Bison's momentum at the other end. With both teams trading points the rest of the way, the Bison lead would never dip below 11 points, resulting in an eventual 13-point, 77-64 final score.
The Bison hit the road for Springfield, Massachusetts and a rematch against conference rival Western New England University this Saturday, January 24th. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 PM at the Anthony S. Caprio Center.