BEVERLY, Mass. (11/19/2025) - The Nichols College men's basketball team traveled to Endicott College on Wednesday to compete in their first Conference of New England match-up for the 2025-26 season. Trading blows, the Bison were handed their first conference loss by a narrow 11-point margin.

Following the loss, the Bison now sit at 1-3 for the season, starting with a 0-1 conference record. Endicott improves to a 5-0 overall record, 1-0 in the CNE.

The offense saw it's highest scorer in Dominic Mello with his 17 points, producing alongside him were Javen Flowers-Smith and Olivier St. Louis with their 15 points respectively. Ethan Minarik saw efficiency off of the bench, posting a season-high 11 points and leading the bench in the scoring category. Leading the rebounding column for the Bison was St. Louis with his 9 boards, cleaning the glass on the scoring side of the court with 4 of them being marked as offensive rebounds. Nichols saw a relatively low assist night as a team at 8 for the game, but were led in the category by Flowers-Smith with his 3. Nichols had several players posted a block, marking 4 as a team, with Flowers-Smith and Edrick Quezada sharing the steals leader title each having 2. To finish the game the Bison shot 30-66 (45.5%) from the field overall, posting 9-22 (40.9%) from 3-point range, their highest as a team this season. Nichols saw the charity stripe sparingly, shooting 4-6 (66.7%).

The Bison saw a double-digit deficit to finish out the first-half. Tied at 16:08 at 7-7, the Bison were unable to establish a lead to start the night. Endicott held a double-digit lead in the first-half on 9 separate occasions, with the Bison struggling to dismantle the lead.

Out of the locker room, Nichols were more productive altogether, coming closest to a lead at 1:10 with a layup from Flowers-Smith, making it a 3-point lead for Endicott, 76-73. From that point on the Gulls scored 8 unanswered, with 6 of the points coming from the charity stripe. A key factor in Endicott cushioning their lead came from free-throws, shooting 14-15 (93.3%) on the night and making a flawless 9-9 in the second-half.

Men's basketball will travel to hosting Keene State for their Invitational, slated against Keene State College to start with a tip-off time of 7:30 on Friday, November 21st at Spaulding Gymnasium.