LEICESTER, Mass. – The Nichols College men's basketball team made it five-straight wins with a 90-77 victory at Becker College on Thursday night in a non-conference matchup in Leicester, Mass.
 
The Bison improve to 7-1 overall with the victory, while the Hawks drop to 4-4. Nichols avenges one of its only six losses from a season ago when Becker came into Dudley and defeated the Bison, 97-92 on Nov. 28, 2016.
 
Junior Marcos Echevarria led the way for Nichols again, pouring in 28 points to go with four rebounds and five assists. Sophomore DeAnte Bruton added 24 points, on 8-of-14 shooting, to go with three rebounds and three assists, while freshman Matt Morrow came off the bench to add 13 points and grab seven rebounds. Senior Daequon Antoine had an all-around game with 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal.
 
Becker sophomore Jalen Robinson connected on 7-of-9 shots, including a perfect 3-for-3 showing from beyond the arc, to post a team-best 25 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals to lead the Hawks. Senior Samuel Durodola added 23 points and eight rebounds, while junior Kareem Davis had 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
 
Nichols buried 33-of-64 (51.6%) of its shot attempts in the win, while going 10-of-26 (38.5%) from beyond the arc and 14-of-16 (87.5%) at the charity stripe. Becker shot 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the field, while hitting 7-of-17 (41.2%) of its three-pointers but only 16-of-28 (57.1%) of its free throws in the defeat. Nichols held a slight 34-32 edge in rebounds, while only committing 10 turnovers to just 12 for the Hawks.
 
It was a back-and-forth start to the game as the teams traded baskets until a Robinson layup with 14:24 to play in the opening half tied the game at 13-13. An Echevarria triple pushed the Nichols lead to 18-14 a little over a minute later, and back-to-back triples from the junior and Daequon Antoine at the 10:05 mark forced a Becker timeout with the Bison in front 26-18.
 
A Durodola layup with 8:19 remaining capped a 7-2 run by the Hawks to pull the home team back to within three at 28-25, but Morrow answered inside to put the Bison back on top, 30-25. After a Robinson layup cut the Nichols lead to 32-28 with 5:55 to play, the Bison answered with an 11-0 run capped by a Morrow three-point play to extend the lead to 43-28 and 3:28 remaining. The Bison would eventually take a 49-34 advantage into halftime after both teams went scoreless over the final 1:31 of the opening period.
 
The Nichols lead would eventually grow to 17 as a three-point play from Antoine made it a 62-45 game with 14:52 remaining. Nearly two minutes later, Becker would make it a nine-point game as Robinson connected on a three-pointer and sophomore Donzell Cunningham converted inside to pull the home team back to a 66-57 deficit. A three-point play from freshman Jamir Carr capped an 8-0 run by the Hawks and made it a 66-60 game with 11:33 to play.
 
The two teams traded baskets over the next few minutes and a three-point play from Echevarria staked the Bison to a 76-67 lead with 7:34 remaining in the half. A Bruton layup two minutes later kept Nichols in front 80-70, and another Morrow make inside with 3:45 to play gave Nichols an 82-72 lead. A quick 5-0 spurt from the Bison extended the lead to 87-72, and a three from Echevarria with just over a minute to play iced the game and capped a 14-6 run to help Nichols earn the tough non-conference win.
 
All-Time Series
Thursday night marked the 18th meeting between the two teams, and Nichols leads the all-time series, 15-3.