DUDLEY, Mass. -- Jean-Luc Parker hit a three-pointer as time expired to give eighth-seeded University of New England an epic 50-49 victory over top-seeded Nichols College in a quarterfinal-round game of the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship played Tuesday evening (Feb. 24) at the Athletics Center.

The Nor'easters (8-18), making their first post-season appearance since 2010, advance to face No. 4 Wentworth Institute of Technology in one Thursday semifinal. Second-seeded Endicott College and third-seeded Eastern Nazarene College will face-off in Thursday's other game. UNE avenged a pair of regular-season losses to the Bison (20-6), including a 100-46 lopsided affair Jan. 10 in Dudley.

Devin Thompson tossed in a game-high 17 points to lead the way for the Nor'easters. He was 7 of 12 from the floor, including a 3-for-7 effort from beyond the arc. Parker was 6 of 11 on his field goal attempts and finished with 15 points. Sam Thomas came off the bench to score 10 points. He was perfect on all five of attempts from the field. CJ Autry grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds -- including 13 at the defensive end -- and Drew Coveney dished out six assists.

Irving Eggleston had a team-high 15 points for the Bison, while Matt Langadas added 11. Christian Horton chipped in eight points and eight boards.

After Langadas had given Nichols a 49-47 lead on a jumper with two seconds remaining, the Nor'easters called timeout to set up the final play. Autry inbounded the ball, throwing it in the air to the opposite foul line to Thomas, who turned and found Parker in the left corner. Parker knocked down the contested trey as the buzzer sounded, sending the Nor'easters' bench onto the court in frenzied celebration.

Trailing by 10 (36-26) in the early stages of the second frame, Nichols chipped away at the deficit and closed to within three (42-39) on a Chris Johnson layup with just under 10 minutes remaining. UNE responded with the next three points to push the margin back up to six (45-39), but then the Nor'easters would go scoreless the next 8:29 as the Bison tallied eight consecutive points to grab a 47-45 lead.

Parker converted a layup with 27 seconds left to tie the score at 47, then the Bison worked the clock down before Langadas hit what appeared as if it might be the game-winning shot with two ticks left.

Big Blue had shot a sizzling 56.5 percent (13 of 23) in the opening half, compared to 20.8 percent (5 of 24) accuracy for Nichols to build a 29-23 cushion heading into intermission. For the game, UNE's defense limited the Bison to their lowest scoring output of the season, while out-rebounding Nichols by a 38-31 margin.

"Nichols is an extremely talented, well-coached team," said UNE head coach Ed Silva. "However, tonight was a coach's dream because we executed the game plan to near perfection -- right down to the final play."

UNE lost both meetings with Wentworth during the regular season, suffering a 51-45 setback on the road Jan. 6 and a 61-49 home defeat Feb. 3. Thursday's semifinal tilt at Tansey Gymnasium is slated to tip at 7 p.m.