Box Score

Williamstown, Mass.- The Nichols men's basketball team shot 54 percent from the field to earn a 80-74 victory over Southern Vermont in opening round action of the Williams Tournament on Saturday evening. Sophomore Bryan Riley (West Boylston, Mass.) scored six crucial points down the stretch to help secure the victory for the Bison, who are now 3-7 on the year. Riley joined three other Bison in double figures as sophomore Ryan Wilcox (West Granby, Conn.) and freshman Garret Bishop (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) led the way with 16 each. Junior John Costello (Tolland, Conn.) chipped in with 12 points off the bench while Riley finished with ten.

The first half saw ten lead changes and six ties before the Bison were able to break out to an 11 point lead, 43-32, by halftime. A three-point play by sophomore Chris Paquin (Bare, Mass.) got the ball rolling as Nichols went on to score the next four points off jumpers by senior Chris Vallee (Fitchburg, Mass.). A three by senior Ron Powers (Millville, Mass.) with 45 seconds left gave the Bison their largest lead of the game, 43-30.

A three by Bishop 3:33 into the second half pushed Nichols lead back up to ten, 48-38, but Southern Vermont countered with a 10-0 drive to tie the game for the seventh time, 54-54 with 12:42 left to play. A jumper by Bishop followed by a three by freshman Matt Lindberg (North Easton, Md.) gave the Bison a six-point lead but the Mountaineers didn't let the game slip away, tying the game two more times heading into the final five minutes. Holding onto just a two point lead with 3:07 on the clock, Riley completed a three-point play and later hit a jumper to help put the game away.

Nichols will play the winner of the Williams/Mitchell match-up in tomorrow's championship game at 3 p.m.