DUDLEY, Mass. (11/16/24) – The Nichols College men's basketball team dropped its second consecutive game on Saturday afternoon, falling to the University of Southern Maine, 83-70 in non-conference play inside the Nichols Athletic Center.

The Bison drop to 1-2 on the season, while the Huskies improve to 3-0.

Despite the setback, the Bison had five total players score in double figures. Leading the way was junior Javen Flowers-Smith with 17 points on 8-of-19 shooting, with second year forward Simon Percy contributing 14 with 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. Senior Dominic Mello and Ryan Savoy combined for 24 points, while junior Olivier St. Louis scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. The Bison finished the game 28-for-71 (39.4%) from the field, and 8-of-32 (25.0%) from behind the arc.  

The two teams met up at 17-17 before the Huskies took the lead, 19-17 on a made layup midway through the first half. The Bison then answered on back-to-back triples from Percy and Flowers-Smith to put the hosts ahead 23-19, before Percy scored another three-pointer on the next drive to make it 26-21 Bison. After a short comeback by the Huskies, the Bison eventually took complete control of the half thanks to a 10-0 run, which featured four more points from Percy to put Nichols ahead by 11 points with 2:42 to play. The Bison would finish the half leading by 10 points, 42-32.

USM used the first 10 minutes of the second half to slowly chip away at the Bison lead, ultimately tying the game at 55-55 with 10:14 to play. Over the course of the next six minutes, both teams would battle through three more ties and three more lead changes, with Nichols' final lead coming by way of a St. Louis layup at 3:46. The Huskies went on to close out the game scoring 12 of the final 14 points scored, securing themselves the 80-73 victory on the road.

Men's Basketball will take a day before hosting Clark University (1-1) on Monday, November 18^th for a 7:30 PM showdown at the Nichols Athletic Center.