DUDLEY, Mass. (12/6/2025) – For the second time in as many games, Olivier St. Louis and Dominic Mello registered double-double performances to help lead the Nichols men's basketball team to their fourth straight victory, defeating conference newcomer Johnson & Wales University, 84-74 on Saturday afternoon.

Nichols jumps to 5-4 (2-1 CNE) with the win, while JWU drops to 1-9 (0-3 CNE).

For the game, Nichols made 9-of-20 (45.0%) shots from three-point range and shot 30-of-67 (44.8%) overall. Five Bison scored in double figures in the effort, led by senior guard Javen Flowers-Smith who went 5-of-14 (35.7%) from the field for 18 points, as well as three steals. Junior forward Luke Chapman was the next highest with 14 points and nine rebounds, while senior guard Kuany Teng hit 14 points of his own. For the double-doubles, Olivier St. Louis paired 13 points scored with 12 boards, as well as seven helpers, and Dominic Mello matched 10 points with 10 rebounds.The Bison also finished the game with a 46-35 edge in total rebounding.

Nichols wasted no time in setting the tone early, scoring 21 of the first 23 points for a lopsided 21-2 lead 5:30 in, with Chapman, St. Louis and Ethan Minarik all hitting triples in that stretch. Things started to heat up for the visitors shortly after with a rapid 7-0 run which shaved Nichols lead' down to 13 points, but a Teng three at the midway point of the half helped the Bison reinforce their lead to 16 points, leading to a stretch of back-and-forth play between the two sides. To close out the half, the Bison out-paced the Wildcats by a 15-7 margin with two more triples from Flowers-Smith and three St. Louis layups, giving the hosts a 50-31 cushion at the break.

As the second half began, JWU slowly started to steal away some of Nichols' momentum. The first push for the Wildcats came at 14:02 mark of the half, where a pair of made free throws spearheaded a 7-0 guest run, which in-turn pulled them to within 13 points of the Bison. Later down the line, with Nichols leading by 18 again thanks to a Teng layup at 11:15, JWU surged a second time with a 10-0 run to bring the difference to under 10 points with 8:40 to play. However, that would be the closest the guest's would get, as Nichols would narrowly win the scoring race to the end, scoring 7-of-17 points on trips to the charity stripe.

In its next game, Nichols will hit the road for a trip to Haverford College (4-3). The game will take place on Saturday, December 13^th at Calvin Gooding '84 Arena, and will begin at Noon.