DUDLEY, Mass. – Junior Gustave Koumare (Harlem, N.Y.) poured in a career-high 28 points to lift the Nichols College men's basketball team to a 78-74 win over Endicott College in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Thursday evening at the Nichols Athletic Center.

Koumare knocked down five three-pointers in the second half as the Bison led wire-to-wire and remained perfect on the season in conference play at 7-0 (10-4 overall). Senior captain Matt Langadas (Sebago, Maine) netted 15 first-half points and canned a key three late in the second half to finish with 18 points.

Junior captain Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) connected on 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and closed the evening with 18 points. As a team, Nichols made 12-of-17 from the line (71 percent) and 42 percent from the field (27-of-65) to stretch its win streak over the Gulls to five.

Endicott (9-6, 5-2 CCC) saw four student-athletes reach double-figures in scoring, led by sophomore Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) with 18 points. Sophomore Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) filled the stat sheet with 16 points (5-6 FT line), nine boards and three dimes while senior John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) registered 12 points, four rebounds, and two assists in 21 minutes before fouling out.

The Bison jumped in front 14-4 behind five points from both Langadas and Eggleston. An 8-0 run by Nichols a few minutes later pushed the leads to 16 as Langadas drained a pair of triples. The Gulls responded with a 14-5 run to close the half as Walker scored six and Motroni added five. The two teams scored a combined 29 points off turnovers through the first 20 minutes; Nichols turned 12 TO's into 16 points while the Gulls tallied 13 points off 10 TO's.

Koumare scored nine-straight points on three 2-pointers in a span of 1:41 midway through the second half as the Bison opened up a 12-point lead (62-50). Endicott proceeded to rip off a 17-6 run to make it a one-point game (68-67) with 2:32 on the clock behind five from Sampson and four from Motroni.

Senior Chris Johnson (Mansfield, Mass.) made a layup off a feed from Eggleston with 2:00 remaining to push the lead back to three. Sophomore Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) turned the ball over at the other end of the floor, and after Koumare drove the paint with time winding down, he kicked the ball to Langadas at the right elbow for a three that made it 73-67. Henault answered at the other end of the floor with a three of his own to make it 73-72, but a three-point play from Johnson off the inbounds pass pushed the lead to four with 18 seconds left.

"We played a really good Endicott team tonight and were very fortunate to come out on top," said Nichols head coach Tom Glynn. "Gustave Koumare and Chris Johnson made big play after big play down the stretch to close out the game."

The Gulls knocked down 43 percent of their shots and 12 of their 14 free throws.

The Bison play at Wentworth Saturday at 3 p.m. The Gulls heads to Western New England for a 3:00 p.m. game on Saturday.