MILTON, Mass. (1/20/24) – The Nichols College men's basketball team hit their shots late on Saturday afternoon, as they took down Curry College in conference play by an 87-67 final score at Dr. Eleanor Meyerhoff Katz Gymnasium.

The recent Nichols win streak extends to eight consecutive games, with the Bison improving to 14-3 (8-1 CCC) overall. Curry slides to 8-9 (2-8 CCC) with the loss.
Deshaun Nettles and Mykel Derring each registered double-doubles in the effort, with Nettles leading the way with a career-best 27 points and 13 rebounds. On Derring's end, the senior guard scored 19 points with 12 boards. Tavon Jones fell just short of his own double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, while freshman Jason Ofcarcik put up 11 points in the effort. The team saw a solid effort from the floor, shooting 34-of-75 (45.3%) with 29 bench points.

The first half was a tight scoring battle between the two teams, with neither side securing any higher than a four-point lead through the opening 10 minutes. A layup by Ofcarcik followed by a 2-of-2 showing at the charity stripe by Simon Percy extended a 15-13 Bison lead to 19-13, which shortly after became a 24-18 score on a Derring three-pointer. Later down the stretch, Curry was able to claim a short-lived lead over the Bison at 30-29 with 3:08 left but would never lead again in the half as a Dominic Mello basket from outside the arc put Nichols back ahead. Nichols wound up leading by a fragile 36-35 edge heading into the locker room.

Curry momentarily took back the lead with a second half opening layup, but then surrendered a 7-0 run to the Bison to fall behind 43-37. From there, Nichols never looked back and extended their lead out to 59-45 with a 13-3 run, with seven of the points belonging to Nettles. Then, beginning at the six-minute mark, the Bison officially put the game away by outscoring the Colonels 14-3, with all of the points coming from inside the paint including two Nettles dunks. At the final buzzer, Nichols had maintained a 20-point lead over Curry, winning 87-67.

Men's basketball returns to the Nichols Athletic Center for a 7:30 PM meeting with University of Hartford on Tuesday, Jan. 23^rd. The game will be featured as a "Pink Out" for Cancer Awareness.