QUINCY, Mass. -- The Nichols College men's basketball team surged to a 68-50 victory using a 54-37 rebounding advantage over the Eastern Nazarene College Crusaders, and went on for their 13th win of the season and eighth in The Commonwealth Coast Conference, Saturday afternoon at the Lahue PE Center.

Sophomore forward Chris Smith (Moosup, Conn.) collected a game-high 18 rebounds, contributing to the 17 board advantage leading to 12 more second chance points than the home team.

The game started out packed with action as the two teams found themselves tied at 9-9 with six minutes gone by. The Bison sank three three-pointers and a Crusader alley-oop slam dunk had both teams' fans cheering. But a 9-2 Bison run, capped by a Jeff Lindgren (Sturbridge, Mass.) three-pointer, gave the visitors an 18-11 lead.

The lead stayed in double digits for much of the half but with :49 seconds to play, Jimmy Gray cut it down to seven on three consecutive free throws as the half ended at 34-27 in favor of the Bison.

Opening the second stanza with a 10-5 run over five minutes, the Crusaders brought the game to within two, 39-37, but another Lindgren three spurred a 15-3 Bison run, which was capped by yet another Lindgren three, giving the Bison a 54-40 advantage with 9:32 remaining. Eastern Nazarene did not respond this time, as time ran out with the Crusaders hitting for a season low, 6.5% (1 for 16), from behind the arc.

Nichols was led by Lindgren's 15 points, Smith's rebounding and an all-around effort from junior guard Chris Paquin (Barre, Mass.) who netted 12 points to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.

Eastern Nazarene was led by Kevin Carr's 13 points as teammate DiAndre Brown added 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Crusaders cause.

Eastern Nazarene picks up TCCC action again on Wednesday, February 18th when they host Salve Regina University at 8:00 pm, and Nichols (13-10, 8-3 TCCC) heads to Regis College on the same day.

Story courtesy Eastern Nazarene Sports Information

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