DUDLEY, Mass. – The No. 21-ranked Nichols College men's basketball team opened the 2018 calendar with an 86-71 victory over the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday night in non-conference action at the Nichols Athletic Center.
 
The Bison improve to 9-1 overall with the victory, while the Huskies drop to 1-11. Nichols returns to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play on Thursday afternoon when they travel to the University of New England for a 1:00 p.m. matchup. Game time has been moved up from a 6:00 p.m. start to accommodate the impending snowstorm.
 
Six players, including all five starters for the Bison, reached double-figures in scoring led by 18 points, five rebounds, eight assists and two steals from junior Marcos Echevarria. Sophomore DeAnte Bruton added 15 points and six rebounds, while classmate Jerome Cunningham registered a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Daequon Antoine connected on four three-pointers en route to 13 points and three steals, with freshman Matt Morrow chipping in 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Sophomore Tyler Dion rounded out the top scored with 11 points.
 
Southern Maine received a team-high 17 points and four assists off the bench from sophomore Keenan Hendricks. Junior Sean Jany added 13 points and nine rebounds, while freshman DJ Anderson scored nine points. Senior Christian McCue and junior Grayson Waterman each netted eight points in the setback.
 
The Bison connected on 30-of-63 (47.6%) of their shots, including 14-of-30 (46.7%) of their three-pointers, but just 12-of-20 (60%) of their free throws. The Huskies shot 43.3% (29-of-67) from the field, 7-of-19 (36.8%) from beyond the arc, and 6-of-11 (54.5%) from the charity stripe in the defeat. Southern Maine won the rebounding battle, 42-39, but the Bison committed only 14 turnovers compared to 17 for the visitors.
 
Nichols came out firing to start the game, and a three-pointer from Daequon Antoine staked the home team to a 31-12 lead with 12:11 to play in the first half. A triple from the senior nearly four minutes later gave the Bison its first 20-point lead of the game at 41-21, but an 8-1 run by the Huskies trimmed the Nichols lead to 42-29 with 5:10 remaining.
 
Southern Maine cut the deficit to 43-31 on a jumper by Jany with just over a minute to play, but Jerome Cunningham was able to score inside before the halftime buzzer to give Nichols a 45-31 lead at the break.
 
The Huskies would get as close as 50-39 with 15:56 remaining in the second half as Jany tipped home his own miss. Nichols answered with a 9-0 run, capped by a three from Tyler Dion, and pushed the Bison lead back out to 59-39 with 13:34 remaining. Another 9-0 run later in the half gave the Bison their largest lead of the game at 78-54 and 5:53 remaining.
 
Southern Maine continued to hang around, and a three pointer from DJ Anderson pulled the Huskies to within 80-67 and 2:48 remaining. Morrow would answer with a jumper, and the Bison would go a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line down the stretch to help close out the Huskies, 86-71.
 
All-Time Series
Tuesday night marked the fifth meeting between the two programs and Nichols leads the all-time series, 3-2.