DUDLEY, Mass. -- The Nichols College men's basketball team survived runs from the University of New England at the beginning of both halves and picked up a 76-70 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory on Saturday afternoon.

With a 73-67 lead inside the final two minutes, UNE senior Marcus Winn (Austin, Texas) drained a three-pointer with 0:18 to go, cutting the difference to three. A quick lay-up on the other end by Jalen Graham made it 75-70, and the Nor'easters could not find the answer before time expired.

Graham led the way for the Bison (5-8, 3-3 CCC) with 16 points off the bench, going 6-of-9 from the field. Sam Horning added 12 points -- part of the Nichols reserves that scored 42 in the game. Justin Kuntz chipped in with 10, and Ryan Sheehan had nine.

Winn tallied a game-high 17 to pace Big Blue (0-12, 0-5 CCC), hitting 5-of-11 tries from long distance. Senior Ryan Knotek (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) matched his season-high with 15 points on 5-of-7 field goal attempts, before fouling out with five minutes remaining. Classmate Jarryd Rossignol (Caribou, Maine) knocked down a trio of shots from deep to register nine points.

Junior Alex Alsadi (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and senior Brian Jones (Austin, Texas) each had game-highs in rebounds and assists for UNE, with 12 (rebounds) and five (assists), respectively.

The Nor'easters jumped out a to a 7-0 lead 2:25 into the contest. Nichols trailed 12-6 after almost six minutes of action, before going on a 20-2 spurt in a span of 7:50 to establish a 12-point cushion (26-14) with 6:08 left in the first half.

The Bison extended the gap to 36-21 at the break, only to see UNE run-off 11 unanswered points in the 2:28 to begin the second frame, closing to within four. Nichols maintained the advantage, and the game never left a single-digit spread the rest of the way.

Big Blue worked the margin down to as few as two (53-51) with 8:20 on the clock, heading into the home stretch.

Nichols travels to Roger Williams University on Tuesday, the same day that UNE visits Eastern Nazarene College.