SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (1/27/24) – In their second meeting of the season, the Nichols College men's basketball team defeated Western New England University, 92-82 in a battle of the top two teams in the Commonwealth Coast Conference standings on Saturday afternoon at the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center. 

Nichols jumps to 16-3 (9-1 CCC) overall on the season with their 10^th consecutive win, while Western New England falls to 14-5 (9-2 CCC).

Mykel Derring and Dominic Mello each put up a game-high 22 points to lead the offense for the Bison, who had five total players score in double-figures. Derring, in addition to his point totals, hauled in eight rebounds to match Deshaun Nettles on the floor, who scored 20 points of his own. Senior guard Nate Duckworth contributed a season-best 14 points, while Tavon Jones registered 13 respectively. The Bison enjoyed their best overall shooting performance of the season, finishing 30-of-54 (55.6%) from the field and 12-of-20 (60.0%) from three-point range.

Nate Duckworth opened things up for the Bison with a three-pointer at 18:39 off a feed from below the rim by Jason Ofcarcik. Just over two minutes later, Mykel Derring made it a 6-1 game with a triple of his own, which was then followed with a Duckworth layup off a steal on the next drive to make it 8-1 Bison. Nichols continued to dominate from behind the arc through the midway point of the half, as three more baskets fell courtesy of Derring, Duckworth and Mello, leading up to a 21-10 advantage for the Bison. Nichols then maintained a double-digit lead over the Golden Bears until an 8-2 run by the hosts shaved their lead down to 29-24. The rest of the half, both sides traded points with Nichols clinging to a 40-33 lead at the buzzer.

Entering the second half, the two teams remained neck-and-neck with scoring. Mello helped restore the Bison's double-digit lead with a three-pointer at 16:33, which later grew to 14 points three minutes later on a Nettles layup, forcing a full WNE timeout. To follow, Nichols continued to pile on the points as their lead increased to 76-61 with 5:45 left to play, with Nettles scoring another eight. In the waning minutes of the half, however, the Golden bear offense started heating up with an 8-2 run to cut the Bison lead down to 80-72, forcing Nichols into a timeout with 2:39 left. A final push by the golden Bears was not enough the change the outcome, as the Bison held on to win the game 92-82.

Men's basketball faces another tough challenge when they return home on Wednesday, January 31^st to host Endicott College (12-7, 7-4 CCC) at 7:30 PM.