DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 3) – The Nichols College men’s basketball team survived a late surge by Anna Maria and held on to defeat the AMCATS, 65-63, in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference game Wednesday evening. Nichols improves to 10-9 overall and 3-5 in conference action, while Anna Maria drops to 8-12 overall and 3-5 in league play. Senior forward Ryan Wilcox (West Granby, Conn.) led the Bison with 19 points and seven rebounds to come within 26 points of 1,000 on his career.
Wilcox scored the bulk of his points at the free throw line where he went 11-for-13, and of his seven boards, six came off the defensive glass. Joining him in double figures was recent 1,000-point club inductee Chris Paquin (Barre, Mass.), who scored 11 points. Mike Salis (Pelham, N.H.) pulled down seven rebounds, including five on the defensive glass.
Anthony Click led the AMCATS with 15 points, and filled the stat sheet with three blocks, assists and steals to go with six rebounds. Junior De La Hoz put up 13 points.
The lead changed six times in the opening half, with the AMCATS using a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at the midpoint of the stanza, 11-5, after a Javier Bristol layup. Pete Atkins (Gainesville, Fla.) rattled off five consecutive points to cut the Bison’s deficit to one before Wilcox sank a pair of free throws to give Nichols the lead. The Bison finished the half on a 12-4 run to hold a 34-24 advantage at the break.
Nichols led by as many as 20 in the second half after a Steve Galgano (Ansonia, Conn.) trey at the 14:17 mark, but a late run by the AMCATS turned the game into a one-possession affair. A Click layup at the 6:53 mark sparked a 14-4 run by the visitors that was capped by a De La Hoz three-pointer with 1:28 to play.
Nichols clung to a 60-57 lead and called a time out, after which a series of turnovers left the AMCATS wide open for a pair of layups, but Click couldn’t convert, and a foul sent Bryan Riley (West Boylston, Mass.) to the line. Riley sank both to give the Bison a five-point lead at 62-57, with 48 seconds left.
Click then hit a bucket under the basket and completed the three-point play to bring the AMCATS back within a possession, but Riley found his way to the line for a pair of swishes to push the Bison ahead, 64-60, with 35 seconds on the clock.
Rafael Candelario pulled up to hit a long three-pointer with 26 seconds left, again bringing Anna Maria within a possession, and this time within a point, but his following foul sent Riley back to the line where he sank another for the 65-63 final. Riley finished with nine points, seven of which came at the line.
Anna Maria held a 41-32 advantage on the glass, but it was the Bison who parlayed the AMCATS’ 24 turnovers into 21 points. Nichols shot just 67.6% from the free throw line, but scored 25 points from the stripe, including 17 in the second half.
Nichols is back in action in a 3 p.m. TCCC game at Gordon Saturday. Anna Maria hosts Wentworth Saturday in a 3 p.m. game.
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