BOSTON, Mass. (11/8/24) - The Nichols College men's basketball team kicked off their 2024-25 campaign with an impressive road win over Emmanuel College, 89-78 in non-conference action Friday evening.

The Bison open the season at 1-0 with the win, which comes as the first at the helm for first-year head coach Tyler Hundley.

In his own Nichols debut, junior guard Javen Flowers-Smith led the Bison with 28 points on 8-of-17 shooting, along with nine assists and seven boards. Senior returner Dominic Mello was close behind with 25 points on the night, while sophomore Simon Percy dropped a career-high 14 points. Classmate Luke Chapman, in his first collegiate start, scored 10 points with a team-high eight rebounds. As a team, the Bison shot 29-of-63 (46.0%)  from the field while going 7-of-22 (31.8%) from three-point range.

The Bison took control of the score early in the first half, beginning with an impressive alley-oop dunk from Percy off a feed from Flowers-Smith. Through the opening 10 minutes of play, the Bison extended their lead up to 29-15, before three straight points from junior Olivier St. Louis made it a 16-point difference with 8:25 to play in the half. The remaining play would see both teams trading points at each end of the court, with the Bison maintaining a 45-32 lead into the break.

In the second half, Nichols built its lead as large as 22 points with a pair of free-throws by Mello, giving the Bison a 61-39 lead with 15:44 remaining. However, the Saints countered with nine of the next 11 points scored to bring the difference back down to 15 points, before later mounting a 10-3 run to inch as close as five points at 75-70 with 4:03 to go. However, this would be as close as the hosts would get, as a Mello three-pointer at 3:19 gave the Bison enough insurance to claim the win, along with the aid of some late trips to the charity stripe.  

Men's basketball will return to road action for a mid-week showdown at Bridgewater State University (1-0) on Wednesday, November 13^th. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 PM at the Adrian Tinsley Center.