Dudley, Mass. - The Nichols College Bison used a 49-point second half to pull away from from the visiting Trinity College Bantams in men's basketball action ths afternoon.  Trinity suffers its first loss to fall to 3-1, while Nichols remains undefeated at 4-0.  Marcos Echevarria led all scorers with 29 points, including 23 in the second half, while sophomore forward Donald Jorden (Tampa, Fla.) paced Trinity with 14 points.

Trinity scored the game's first six points and led, 11-2, after a Jorden layup 3:28 into the game.  Nichols fought back and trailed, 24-23, on a three-pointer by Jaekwon Spencer with 6:44 left in the first half, but Jorden hit a pair of free throws and junior guard Christian Porydzy (South Glastonbury, Conn.) scored the next five points to push the Trinity advantage back up to 31-23.  The Bison took their first lead at 32-31 on a trey by Echevarria with 1:35 left before the break, and led at halftime, 35-34.

Porydzy made a layup at the 16:15 mark of the second half to make the score, 43-42, in Nichols' favor, but the home team scored nine points in a row over the next two minutes to go ahead by double digits.  Trinity junior tri-captain Kyle Padmore (Milton, Mass.) scored inside midway through the second half to cut the Bantam deficit to 60-53, but a 9-0 run by the Bison put the game out of reach.

Trinity shot 50 percent from long range in the first half (6-12), but just 20 percent in the second half (2-10), while Nichols shot a blistering 65 percent from the floor after the break.  Padmore and senior tri-captain forward Connor Merinder (Andover, Mass.) joined Jorden in double figures in scoring with 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Jordan added a game-high nine rebounds and Padmore notched five boards and three assists.  Jerome Cunningham was a force underneath for the Bison with 19 points, a game-high 11 rebounds, and two blocked shots.