DUDLEY, Mass. – A Chris Paquin (Barre, Mass.) layup with eight seconds left lifted the Nichols College men's basketball team to a 79-78 victory over Wentworth in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference game Tuesday evening. Nichols improves to 12-10 overall and 7-3 in TCCC action, while Wentworth dips to 9-13 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

First-year forward Pete Atkins (Gainesville, Fla.) hit a layup to bring the Bison within one, 77-78, with 32 seconds remaining before Nichols called a timeout. On the ensuing inbound play by the Leopards, sophomore forward Chris Smith (Moosup, Conn.) picked off the court-length pass, allowing the Bison to call another timeout with 20 seconds left. Junior guard Bryan Riley (West Boylston, Mass.) carried the ball down the court, finding Paquin in the paint for the go-ahead basket.

The Leopards brought the ball down the court, setting up Shane West for a wide-open layup with two seconds left, but the ball teetered off the rim, where Atkins batted it away.

Nichols senior guard Jeff Lindgren (Sturbridge, Mass.)  posted a career-high 26 points and dished out three assists to pace the Bison. Riley added 15 points to go with five rebounds and three assists, while John Costello (Tolland, Conn.) and Atkins also figured in double digits with 12 and 10 points respectively. Paquin wrapped up the night with seven points, as did Ryan Wilcox (West Granby, Conn.), who also picked up a team-high six rebounds.

Senior guard Todd Doyle led Wentworth with 27 points, while junior forward Shane West posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Also figuring in double digit scoring were freshman guard Brendan Monteiro, who picked up 12 points and six rebounds and senior guard Kevin Wentworth, who put up 10 points.

Wentworth carried a 39-34 lead into halftime after chipping away at a nine-point Bison lead. Nichols went on a 15-4 run, sparked by 13 points from Lindgren, to hold a 21-12 lead at the 10:19 mark, but a 17-7 run by the visitors over the next seven minutes, capped by a tip-in from Doyle saw the Leopards take their first lead of the half with 3:19 left.

The Bison reclaimed the lead in the second half, building it to as many as 10 points after a Riley jumper at 14:52, but an 18-8 Leopards' spree put the teams deadlocked for the seventh time with 8:15 left to play.

The teams traded the lead a total of 13 times and saw the score tied 11 times in the game. Wentworth held a 34-27 rebounding margin, the largest Nichols has been outrebounded by in nine games. The Leopards capitalized on 15 Bison turnovers, creating 21 points. Nichols found 17 points off 15 Wentworth miscues.

Nichols hits the road for its remaining regular season games, starting with a 3 p.m. game at Eastern Nazarene Saturday. Wentworth tips off at Curry Saturday at 3 p.m.

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