Men's Basketball Suffers Loss at Nichols, 104-73

DUDLEY, Mass. – The Anna Maria College men's basketball team fell to the Bison of Nichols College, 104-73 in non-conference action on Friday night at the Nichols Athletic Center.

The loss drops the AMCATS to 2-8 overall while the Bison improve to 8-2 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sophomore Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) led five Bison in double-figures with 27 points. Echevarria added seven assists, four steals, and four rebounds while freshman DeAnte Bruton (New London, Conn.) went for 19 points, three assists, two steals, and two rebounds. Classmate Tyler Dion (Barre, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points (3-of-3 FG) and sophomore Josiah Kimball (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) threw up 10 points and seven rebounds. Nichols rattled home 54 percent of its field goal attempts (38-of-71) and forced a season-high 31 turnovers, which it turned into 51 points.

Freshman Mike Rapoza (Charlton, Mass.) led the AMCATS with 23 points (10-of-13 FG) and 12 boards. Junior Kenneth Graham (West Haven, Conn.) finished with 20 points and seven boards for Anna Maria, which shot 49 percent from the field (32-of-66) and held a 41-28 edge on the glass.

The Bison jumped out to a quick 13-3 lead behind eight points from Bruton. The lead grew to 19 points when freshman Daequon Antoine (Fort Mill, S.C.) knocked down a triple with eight minutes to go. A layup by sophomore Josiah Kimball (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) with 44 ticks on the clock extended the lead to 23 points at halftime. Echevarria led all scorers with 16 points (6-of-12 FG) while Bruton scored 12 points. Rapoza paced Anna Maria with 19 points. Nichols shot 57 percent (9-of-17 3-pointers) while Anna Maria sank 42 percent of its shots.

Bruton converted a layup 3:52 into the second half to push the lead to 25 points at 65-40. The AMCats clawed to within 17 points following a layup by Graham at 14:16 before the Bison ripped off a 23-9 run to open up a 91-59 lead with 8:25 to go. Echevarria sparked the run with eight points while Antoine netted five.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Anna Maria travles to Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Wednesday January 4th for a 5:30 p.m. Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest. The Nichols College men's basketball team travels to Gordon College on Tuesday, January 3 for a 7:30 p.m tip off.