WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (11/29/23) – The Nichols College men's basketball team went into halftime trailing host University of Hartford, 38-37, but put a strong second half to good use to defeat the Hawks, 78-71, inside the Chase Family Arena on Wednesday night. It was the first ever meeting between the Bison and the Hawks.

With their third consecutive win, the Bison are now 5-1 overall this year while Hartford drops to 2-3 overall with the loss. The contest was considered non-conference.

Nichols was led by senior Tavon Jones who was 9-of-19 from the field with a team best 25 points on the night, accompanied by eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Fellow senior Mykel Derring tallied 19 points for the Bison, while also collecting four assists. As a team, Nichols was 27-of-62 (36.2%) from the field with eight made three pointers, with 30 points in the paint and 14 points off the bench. 

The start to the opening half was a tightly contested battle, with neither team opening up a lead larger than four points through the first eight minutes. However, Hartford used an 12-2 run to build their biggest lead of the game at 27-16 with 8:44 left in the half. Nichols then scored on the following possession thanks to a Tavon Jones jumper, which spearheaded a 6-2 push by the Bison to cut the Hartford lead down to 29-22. Then, through the final five minutes, the Bison found late success from behind the arc with all five of their final first half baskets coming from three-range, bringing the score to 38-37 Hartford at the half.

The Bison picked up right where they left off with an early three-pointer just 51-seconds into the second half, courtesy of Mykel Derring to return the lead to Nichols. From there, the closely contested action continued, but the Bison remained one step ahead of the opponent with a balanced attack. At the 11:36 mark, with the score at 54-50 Nichols, the Bison attempted to further their lead with a brief 5-0 run, capped off by an and-one on a layup by freshman Simon Percy. The extra cushion assisted in the Bison's endeavors the rest of the way, as Hartford managed to pull close on several occasions while failing to steal the lead back. As a result, the game would go to the visitors by way of free throws and a 78-71 final score.

The Bison return to the Nichols Athletic Center for their CCC opener on Saturday, December 2^nd facing Curry College for a 3:00 PM start.