Boston, Mass. - Nichols College (6-2) made a late defensive charge forcing four Rams' turnovers and outscoring the Rams 11-3 in the game's finals three minutes to top the Suffolk University Rams, 65-57 on Thursday evening at the Regan Gymnasium.
Freshman Matt Pepdjonovic (Quincy, Mass.) recorded his fifth double-double in eight games for the Rams as he led all scorers with 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds on the evening for Suffolk.
Nichols was led by senior Ryan Wilcox (West Granby, Conn.) who finished with a team-high 15 points going 5-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc. Senior Bryan Riley (West Boylston, Mass.) and Chris Paquin (Barre, Mass.) each had 12 points as well for the Bison who have now won four games in a row.
The back and forth game featured eight lead changes and was tied at six different points throughout the night.
The Rams had as large a lead as 6-points, 54-48 with a little over seven minutes remaining after junior Allan Ray (Lynn, Mass.) hit a jumper.
The Bison took the lead for good with 4:17 remaining when junior Justin Aldrich (Douglas, Mass.) knocked in a lay-in on transition off a feed from Wilcox.
Freshman Justin Kuntz (Wallingford, Conn.) had two key steals in the closing minutes for Nichols.
Sophomore Mike Gibbons (Ringwood, N.J.) finished the game shooting 4-for-7 from three-point land to post 12 points for Suffolk. Sophomore Sam Hutchins (Andover, Mass.) finished the night with 11 points, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc as well.
Nichols College will be back in action on Saturday as they travel to take on Clark College at 1:00pm. The Rams will travel to Standish, Me. this Saturday to take on St. Joseph's College (Me.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup at 3:00pm.