DUDLEY, Mass. – Nichols junior Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) poured in a career-high 33 points to lead the Nichols College men's basketball team to a 76-49 win over Gordon College Thursday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at the Nichols Athletic Center. Gordon senior Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds in 24 minutes for Gordon (8-12, 5-8 CCC), during which he also blocked five shots. Sophomore Dominic Paradis (Rochester, N.H.) went 6-of-10 from the floor and finished with a team-high 17 points.
The Fighting Scots struggled to find offensive options to replace their second and third leading scorers—Jason Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) and Taylor Bajema (Whitinsville, Mass.)—who both missed the game due to injury. Dempsey has missed the last four games and the Scots are 1-3 without the senior forward. Bajema was injured in the final seconds of Tuesday's win at Western New England.
In 35 minutes of action, Eggleston knocked down six from three-point land, grabbed six boards, recorded four steals, and dished out two assists for the Bison, who ran their win streak to a program-record 11 while improving their conference-record start to 13-0 (16-4 overall).
Senior captain Matt Langadas (Sebago, Maine) and junior Gustave Koumare (Harlem, N.Y.) chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively, while junior captain Christian Horton (Rutland, Mass.) tallied nine points, a career-high eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals in 39 minutes. Once again, the Bison did a solid job protecting the basketball, committing just eight turnovers while forcing the Fighting Scots to commit 24, which led to 22 points.
The Bison got off to a sluggish start and found themselves trailing by six at 11-5 a shade over five minutes into the game. Senior Chris Johnson (Mansfield, Mass.) – who finished with five points, 10 rebounds, and three steals – sank a free throw to tie things up at 15 with 8:45 left in the first half.
A layup by Eggleston and a triple from Koumare – one of two he knocked down on the evening – helped the Bison open up a 22-17 lead at 5:59. They closed the half on a 7-0 run behind five from Eggleston and a three from sophomore Jared Thompson (Scituate, R.I.) to take an 11-point lead to the locker room (32-21). Neither school shot the ball particularly well in the opening stanza (Gordon – 33 percent; Nichols – 28 percent), and the Fighting Scots held a 26-24 edge on the glass. Eggleston led all scorers with 12 while freshman Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.) paced Gordon with seven.
Miersma threw down a pair of dunks in the opening 6:46 of the second half to bring Gordon to within nine at 42-33. Nichols responded with a 9-0 run to open up an 18-point advantage, led by two layups from Eggleston and a three from Langadas. Horton's fast break layup at 7:16 extended the Bison lead to 21 points at 59-38 before Eggleston drained a three with 86 seconds left to make it a 28-point margin (76-48).
Nichols hit on 39 percent of its shots and made 11 three-pointers. Gordon, meanwhile, rattled home 38 percent of its field goals and outrebounded the Bison 45-37.
The Fighting Scots host the Curry Colonels on Saturday at 3 p.m. in hopes of creeping closer back to .500 in the conference standings. Gordon currently sits sixth with five games to go in the regular season.
Release courtesy of Nichols Sports Information
