BRISTOL, R.I. – The Nichols College men's basketball team earned its fourth-straight win with a 91-79 victory at Roger Williams University on Tuesday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action in Bristol, R.I.
 
The Bison knocked down 17 three-pointers in the victory to improve to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the CCC while knocking off the previously unbeaten Hawks and dropping them to 7-1 and 2-1 in league games.
 
Junior Marcos Echevarria scored a game-high 25 points, including 16 in the second half, to go with five rebounds and five assists to lead the Bison. Current CCC Player of the Week Daequon Antoine added 24 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Jerome Cunningham just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Tyler Dion was the final player in double-figures with 12 points, with classmate DeAnte Bruton chipping in nine points, nine assists and four rebounds.
 
Echevarria went 7-for-14 from beyond the arc, with Antoine knocking down 6-of-8 triples in the win. Bruton and Dion added two three-pointers apiece for the Bison.
 
Roger Williams had four players reach double-digits in scoring led by 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals from junior Austin Coene. Senior Nick Marini added 17 points and five assists, while senior Jaylen Jennings and sophomore Rich Pugliese scored 10 points apiece. Jennings and senior Conor O'Brien pulled in eight rebounds apiece.
 
The Bison shot 29-of-63 (46%) from the field, 17-of-35 (48.6%) from beyond the arc, and 16-of-21 (76.2%) from the charity stripe in the victory. Roger Williams connected on 27-of-56 (48.2%) of its shots, 5-of-18 (27.8%) of its three-pointers, and 20-of-24 (83.3%) of its free throws on the night. Nichols held a slight 36-33 advantage in rebounds, and committed only 17 turnovers compared to 20 for the Hawks, which the Bison turned into 28 points.
 
A layup from Jerome Cunningham staked the Bison to an 8-2 lead with 17:12 to play in the first half, and Daequon Antoine later sandwiched triples around a Coene layup to put Nichols in front 18-10 exactly seven minutes later. After a pair of Cunningham free throws made it a 22-10 advantage, a quick 7-0 spurt from Roger Williams trimmed the Nichols lead to 22-17 with eight minutes to play.
 
The Hawks continued to chip away, and a Pugliese layup at the 6:20 mark knotted the game at 24-24. Antoine answered with another three to take the lead back, but the Hawks scored five-straight points to take a 29-27 advantage and less than five minutes to play in the first half. The two teams traded baskets until a 9-0 run by the Bison on threes by Antoine, Echevarria and Dion put the Bison back in front 39-31 with 2:33 remaining. Nichols eventually took a 45-36 lead into the half after Antoine knocked down one more three-pointer before the horn.
 
Back-to-back layups from Cunningham in the opening minutes of the second half helped give the Bison a 56-43 advantage, and a personal 5-0 run from Antoine pushed the lead to 61-46 with 12:48 remaining in the period. Another Echevarria triple nearly three minutes later kept the Bison in front 70-54, but Roger Williams would not go away as they cut the Nichols lead to 10 several times over the next few minutes.
 
Tyler Dion connected on a three-pointer with 6:33 to play to make it a 78-64 lead, and a three from Echevarria two minutes later extended the lead to 83-67. Another three from the junior gave the Bison their largest lead of the game at 86-69 with 1:35 to play, but Roger Williams tried to extend the game by fouling, and was able to rattle off an 8-2 run to climb to 88-77 with less than a minute to play. Freshman Nate Tenaglia and Echevarria combined to go 3-for-4 at the charity stripe down the stretch for the Bison and help Nichols hang on for the 91-79 victory.
 
All-Time Series
Tuesday night's game marked the 50th meeting between the two programs and the Bison lead the series 29-21. Nichols has won nine-straight in the series dating back to 2013.