HARTFORD, Conn. – The Nichols College men's basketball team rebounded from their first loss of the season by defeating Trinity College, 89-75, in a non-conference matchup on Sunday afternoon in Hartford, Conn.
 
Junior Marcos Echevarria led all scorers with 23 points, to go with four rebounds, four assists and a steal. Sophomore Tyler Dion knocked down 6-of-9 three-pointers on the day en route to 21 points, while classmate DeAnte Bruton added 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Senior Daequon Antoine and sophomore Jerome Cunningham chipped in nine points apiece, with freshman Matt Morrow pulling down eight rebounds in his first career start.
 
Ten of the 11 players that checked into the game for the Bantams scored at least one point, led by 17 points from sophomore Joe Bell. Junior Judah Woney added 12 points, while sophomore Christian Porydzy, junior Jeremy Arthur, and senior Eric Gendron scored nine points apiece. Arthur also pulled in a team-high six rebounds, while Porydzy handed out a game-high eight assists.
 
The Bison shot 31-of-62 (50%) from the field and 12-of-24 (50%) from beyond the arc while knocking down 15-of-17 (88.2%) from the charity stripe in the win. Trinity shot 30-of-65 (46.2%) from the floor, but only connected on 4-of-13 (30.8%) from three and 11-of-14 (78.6%) of their free throws. Nichols held a 34-26 advantage in rebounding, while the Bantams only committed three turnovers to just nine for the Bison.
 
It was a back-and-forth start to the contest as Nichols built an early 26-18 lead on a pair of Echevarria free throws before Trinity was able to pull to within 26-23 on a triple from Arthur with 7:14 remaining in the opening half. The Bison answered with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes capped by a Dion triple to take a 37-25 advantage, and after a layup by Judah Woney at the three minute mark, Nichols ended the period on a 12-4 run to take a 49-31 lead into the break.
 
Nichols came out firing to open the second half, using a 14-4 run over the first five minutes of action to build a 63-35 advantage, their largest lead of the game. Trinity continued to chip away and a jumper from Porydzy trimmed the Nichols lead to 69-53 with 9:10 to play. The Bantams pulled to within 79-66 with 4:16 remaining, but back-to-back jumpers from Bruton and Echevarria pushed the lead back to 17 at 83-66 and 3:23 to play.
 
Trinity pulled to within 13 with less than two minutes to play, but Echevarria worked 25 seconds off the shot clock by himself and buried a pull-up three to all but end the game. After Arthur answered with a three, Bruton iced the game with a triple at the end of the shot clock to ice the game and help the Bison grab the non-conference victory.
 
All-Time Series
Sunday was the 21st meeting between the two programs, with the Bantams holding a slight 11-10 lead in the series. Nichols has won two of the last three meetings between the squads.
 
Next Games
Nichols (3-1) – Wednesday, Nov. 29 vs. Endicott, 7:30 p.m.
Trinity (3-1) – Tuesday, Nov. 28 vs. Mt. St. Vincent, 5:30 p.m.