WORCESTER, Mass. (12/30/24) – After suffering a setback on Sunday, the Nichols College men's basketball team bounced back on Monday evening with a 72-71 upset victory over No. 10 Tufts University, closing out the Clark University Holiday Tournament inside Hurst Courts.

The win comes as the first for the Bison over a ranked opponent in the regular season since the 2018-19 campaign and improves their overall record this season to 4-6 (1-2 CNE) overall. All time, Nichols is now 4-7 against ranked opponents.

Javen Flowers-Smith paced the Bison offense with 17 points to go with a pair of assists, while Simon Percy finished close behind with 16 points on 6-of-9 (66.3%) shooting alongside nine rebounds. Ryan Savoy notched his 12^th career double-double in the effort, as well as his first as a Bison, scoring 11 points with a game-high 12 rebounds. As a team, the Bison shot 26-of-58 (44.8%) from the field, and also held the advantage in boards by a 43-38 margin.  

The two teams found themselves tied at 8-8 through the game's opening eight minutes, before back-to-back triples from Luke Chapman placed Nichols in the lead, 14-8 with 11:41 to play. As Tufts attempted to pull back, the Bison knocked down another pair of consecutive threes, this time from Flowers-Smith, extending their lead to 20-10 beyond the midway point of the half. As play continued, the Jumbos used a 12-4 run to cut the margin to just three points with 5:20 to go, moments before Savoy knocked down his own three following a Bison offensive rebound to make it 31-25 Nichols. Nichols would go on to take a 38-29 lead into the break, having gone 5-of-13 (35.7%) from three range in the half.

Nichols opened the second half with a 6-2 run that pushed their lead to 13 points at 44-31, but Tufts refused to go quietly as they fired off six unanswered points to bring the difference back within single digits. Nichols would try a second time to pull away on the scoreboard, gaining their largest lead of 16 points on an Ethan Minarik triple with 8:52 left, but to little effect as Tufts stormed back with a 12-2 run to move within six points of the Bison at 63-57. Both sides then traded baskets over the final four minutes of action, with the Bison hanging on for the one-point by way of a Jason Peters free throw in the final 10 seconds.  

The Bison will return to conference play on Saturday, January 4^th with a 2:00 PM road tilt against Curry College (1-9, 0-3 CNE).