BRISTOL, R.I. (Jan. 9) - The Roger Williams Men's Basketball team opened their conference play with a close victory over the Bison of Nichols College by a final of 62-61 after trailing at the half by 13.

The Hawks defense had a solid performance, holding the Bison offense to their lowest point total thus far in the season. The defense was strong late, holding the offense to 34.6% from the field in the second half, translating into 37.9% for the game. Roger Williams' defense consisted of six blocks, seven steals, and 25 defensive rebounds.

The first half saw the scored tied on five different occasions due to four lead changes ending with Nichols on top 33-20. Ryan Wilcox (West Granby, Conn.) opened the scoring for the Bison with a layup in the opening minute which remained unanswered until a basket by Travis O'Dell opened up the offense for RWU. Nichols had a strong effort in the half, shooting 40.6% in the field, and 37.5% from three-point range along with going 4-7 on the free throw line. The Hawks got off to a slow start in the half, shooting only 22.5% from the field and 8.3% on the three-point line. However, the team did not carry that into the locker room and came out in the second half looking strong.

In the second half the Hawks battled back, reducing the final Bison lead to two before Corey Fava put the Hawks ahead by one with a three at 9:54. The Bison did not regain the lead in the game but did manage to tie it up on two separate occasions. The Hawks shot 54.8% from the field to counter the Bison's 34.6% and maintained the lead until two free throws from Chris Paquin (Barre, Mass.) tied the score at 61 with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. The defensive battled continued until a foul on Taylor Petrucelli and his subsequent free throw gave the Hawks the lead for the remainder of the game. The defense was able to hold off the Bison in the final 17 seconds to earn the 62-61 victory.

Fava led the offense for the Hawks with a season-high 22 points on the game, going 9-14 in the field and shooting 4-4 from the three-point line. He also came up with eight rebounds, seven of which were on the defensive side of the ball. O'Dell supported the team's effort with 11 points in the game along with Gary Madison who had ten.

The Bison were led by Paquin with 16 points, along with Pete Atkins (Gainesville, Fla.) with 14 and Wilcox with 11.

Roger Williams (9-4, 1-0 TCCC) continue on and look to improve their record in conference play with a game at Western New England College on Tuesday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m. Nichols (7-4, 0-1 TCCC)  looks to even out their conference record with a game at Endicott College, also on January 12 at 8 p.m.


Story courtesy Roger Williams University Sports Information

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