DUDLEY, Mass. (2/25/2026) – In front of a capacity crowd, the No. 4 seeded Nichols men's basketball team defeated No. 5 seed Roger Williams University in the first round of the CNE Tournament on Wednesday night at the Nichols Athletic Center.

Nichols advances to the CNE Semifinals against top-seeded Endicott College this Friday, and improves to 15-11 (9-7 CNE) overall. Roger Williams closes out their season with a respective 12-14 (8-9) record.

Several players had standout performances in the victory, but none more so than junior guard Ethan Minarik, who dropped a career-high 20 points on 6-of-12 (50.0%) shooting, with all six makes from three-point range. Senior Javen Flowers-Smith was next in line with 18 points, alongside seven assists, while classmate Luke Chapman paired 18 points of his own with seven rebounds. Senior Olivier St. Louis picked up a double-double with 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, and graduate student Dominic Mello finished the night with 15 points. Combined, Nichols went 35-of-67 (52.2%) from the field, 16-of-34 (47.1%) from three, and won the battle of the boards by a 42-38 margin.

The two teams kept things close through the opening 10 minutes of play, with the score locking up at 20-20. At the 9:41 mark, Flowers-Smith landed a triple off a helper from Mello to put the hosts ahead 23-20, a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game. From there, the Bison continued to find success from three with St. Louis and Minarik each converting on their own treys, including three straight three-point field goals from Minarik to give Nichols a 39-29 advantage. It didn't end there, however, as Chapman joined in with a triple in the final minute, helping the Bison maintain a solid seven-point edge, 44-37 at the break.

Entering the second half, the Bison moved the scoring to inside the arc with Mello, St. Louis and Noah Rudman each scoring layups early on. Then, at 17:07, the Bison returned to their three-point ways on a long ball from Darrell Hardge, pushing Nichols' lead back to double-digits. Over the course of the next five minutes, Nichols completely seized the momentum and opened up a 22-point lead, scoring 14 unanswered points with two more triples between Mello and Hardge. From there on out, the Bison matched the Hawks point for point, and even held back a late push by the visitors, en route to the 104-91 victory.  

The matchup at No. 1 Endicott College (24-1, 16-0 CNE) this upcoming Friday will take place at MacDonald Gymnasium in Beverly, Massachusetts, and begin at 7:30 PM.