SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 6, 2016) - Freshman guard Mikey Pettway (Bridgeport, Conn.) scored a season-high 30 points, but Nichols College rallied past Western New England University to earn a 95-89 victory this afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.
 
Pettway shot 10-of-16 from the field and 10-of-11 from the free throw line en route to his 30-point effort, while also dishing out eight assists and securing four rebounds. Senior center Zack Askew (Middletown, Conn.) finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 6-of-9 from the charity stripe to go with five boards, while classmate Don Stephens (West Palm Beach, Fla.) chipped in with a career-high 14 points in 16 minutes off the bench.
 
Senior guard Luis Agrait (South Hadley, Mass.) totaled 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and five assists, while junior Mike Gelineau (Waltham, Mass.) rounded out the five Golden Bears in double figures with ten points and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Senior Christian Horton (Rutland, Mass.) paced the Bison with 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to go with a 6-for-7 showing at the free throw line, five assists, and three rebounds. Junior Nate Tardy (Moodus, Conn.) finished with 22 points, while senior Gustave Koumare (Harlem, N.Y.) and freshman Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) combined for 33 points and eight assists.
 
Western New England, which trailed by eight at halftime, opened the second half on a 7-0 run before eventually regaining the lead on a layup by Askew at the 16:31 mark. After a Koumare trey gave the visitors a two-point edge, the Golden Bears utilized an 8-0 spurt to claim a 56-50 advantage, their largest lead of the game.
 
Tardy got to the line with 12:13 on the clock and knocked down both attempts to tie the score at 58, capping a 5-0 Nichols run, and Koumare nailed a jumper a minute later to spark an 8-0 rally as the visitors went up 68-63 with 10:13 remaining.
 
With Western New England trailing by seven (73-66) and 7:02 left in the second half, Agrait scored four straight points to bring the Golden Bears back to within three (73-70), but that would be as close as they got. Koumare pushed the margin back to six with a trey on Nichols' next possession, and Echevarria sank eight free throws over the final 1:44 to seal the win for the Bison.
 
Western New England shot 55.4 percent (31-of-56) from the field, its best shooting performance since posting a 57.4 percent clip in a win at Nichols on January 7, while the Bison shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65).
 
The Golden Bears scored the first three points of the game, before a 10-0 Nichols run, fueled by seven points from Horton, gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the half. Stephens knocked down a three-pointer at the 13:29 mark to pull Western New England back to within two (14-12), but Brandon Marshall (Hartford, Conn.) answered with a layup on the other end and Jared Thompson (Scituate, R.I.) followed with a pair of triples as the Bison claimed a ten-point advantage (22-12) with 11 minutes to play.
 
Western New England continued to chip away at its deficit, drawing to within five (24-19) on a Gelineau layup three minutes later, but the Golden Bears were unable to close the gap, as a layup by Tardy with 6:27 on the clock gave the visitors their largest lead of the half (30-19). The two teams continued to trade baskets the rest of the way, with Nichols carrying an eight-point cushion (42-34) into the break.
 
Western New England (7-14, 5-9 CCC) returns to action on Wednesday night at Curry, while Nichols (18-3, 12-2 CCC) will be back on the road for a matchup at Salve Regina.