Jan 30, 2016
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Nichols College used a 19-0 run before the midway mark of the closing stanza to take the lead for good and pull away to a 98-64 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball win over the University of New England on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30) at the Harold Alfond Forum.
Winners of eight straight, the league-leading Bison (16-3, 10-2 CCC) connected on 69 percent (20 of 29) field goal tries in the 2nd half to end the contest at 52 percent. The visitors also registered 28 points off of 19 UNE turnovers.
Six players reached double figures for Nichols, led by Christian Horton with 16 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Marcos Echevarria and Brandon Marshall each tallied 15 points, and Devin Stallings added 14. Irving Eggleston did a little of everything with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five steals, and Gustave Koumare notched 10 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds.
The Nor'easters (10-9, 5-7 CCC) received 16 points from Devin Thompson, with CJ Autry and Gavin Dibble contributing 12 and 11, respectively. Drew Coveney corralled a game-best 11 rebounds, as UNE held a 40-32 margin on the glass.
The Bison got out to a 16-5 edge through 7:13, however the hosts soon responded with 12 unanswered to go up, 20-19.Blake Swanson canned back-to-back triples for Big Blue during the spurt.
After several lead-changes, Horton gave Nichols a 6-1 run into intermission to establish a 38-35 cushion. Horton had 13 points at the break, while UNE shot 46 percent from the field in the period.
Dibble hit a trey to put Big Blue ahead by one (46-45) with four minutes gone in the 2nd before the Bison took control. Over a span of 4:26, Nichols forced six turnovers and Echevarria dialed up eight of his 12 points following halftime to pace the deciding surge that set the visitors up 64-46 with 11:25 to go.
The Nor'easters will look to rebound on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.) with a home date against Gordon College (6-6 CCC).