DUDLEY, Mass. – The No. 1 seed Nichols College men's basketball team was upset by No. 8 University of New England 50-49 Tuesday night in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Quarterfinal round at the Nichols Athletic Center.
The Bison – who were seeking a return trip to the conference championship game – could not find their shooting touch all night and finished at 28 percent (14-of-51). They managed to stay in the game with solid defense and free throw shooting, as they forced 20 turnovers and knocked down 17-of-23 from the charity stripe (74 percent).
UNE, meanwhile, shot better than 50 percent in the first half (13-of-23; 57 percent) and finished the game at 44 percent. They outrebounded the Bison 38-31 and held the Bison's three all-conference performers – senior captain Matt Langadas (Sebago, Maine), and juniors Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) and Gustave Koumare (Harlem, N.Y.) – to a combined 7-of-30 (23 percent). Eggleston finished with 15 points – eight of which came from the line – while Langadas had 11 and Koumare had two.
The Bison began the second half down six (29-23) and then fell behind by 10 following a layup by sophomore CJ Autry (Standish, Maine) two minutes in. Sophomore Jared Thompson (Scituate, R.I.) cut the deficit to five with his only field goal of the game – a three-pointer – at 11:55, then a layup from senior Chris Johnson (Mansfield, Mass.) made it 42-39 midway through.
UNE regrouped and regained a six-point lead on free throws from parker and freshman Evrim Ozkan (Istanbul, Turkey) before four-straight points from junior Christian Horton (Rutland, Mass.) made it a two-point game (45-43) at 6:10.
Nichols missed its next four field goal attempts before Eggleston's fast-break layup knotted the score at 45. Just over a minute later, Koumare's only field goal gave the Bison a 47-45 lead with 2:30 on the clock. Johnson missed a pair of free throws that would have made it a two-possession game, and sophomore Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Texas) made a layup at the other end with 27 seconds to go tied the game at 47.
Langadas broke the tie with a jumper from the left side of the key with two seconds remaining in regulation to put the Bison (20-6) up by two. On the ensuing possession, Autry inbounded from under the Nichols' basket to sophomore Sam Thomas (Bedford, N.H.) just over the half-court line. He quickly got the ball to Parker at the left arch, and the drained a three as time expired.
Junior Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) finished with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting for UNE. Parker chipped in with 15 while Autry snared a game-high 15 rebounds.
UNE advances to face No. 2 Endicott Thursday.