BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Men's Basketball team defeated the No. 5 seed in the Conference of New England (CNE) Tournament Nichols on Tuesday evening, 83-75, in a First Round matchup in the Campus Rec Center Gymnasium.
The Hawks were led offensively by
Ryan Higgins who tallied 22 points, with four rebounds, and a pair of assists. The Hawks' first-year guard also knocked down 6-of-11 shots from the floor, with 5-of-9 shots falling from three-point range.
Nate Lopes added 16 points, with
Philip Sughrue chipping in 13 points, while both players had four assists.
Finn Miller led the team on the glass with eight rebounds.
The Bison were able to see major contributions from Simon Percy and Javen Flowers-Smith with 24 and 23 points respectively, while Ryan Savoy added 17 points. Percy had a double-double pulling down 11 boards. Savoy had three blocks and a pair of steals on the defensive end.
Collectively, Roger Williams shot 43.1 percent from the floor, while Nichols shot 48.3 percent, the difference in the game came on three pointers, with Roger Williams knocking down 14 to the Bison's six. The Hawks also had 20 points on the break, while Nichols only tallied 12.
The opening half saw the two teams play to a 26-26 tie in the opening half, before Nichols was able to take control, outscoring the Hawks 21-13 over the final 9:14 of the first half, heading into the break with an eight-point lead.
The Hawks opened the half, with three points coming off a free throw by Miller and a jumper that was knocked down by Lopes, but Nichols was able to maintain an eight-point lead after a layup by Flowers-Smith.
Roger Williams then took control, scoring 15 straight points, taking their first lead since the opening 10 minutes of the contest. The Hawks then continued to expand their lead, extending the lead to 11 after a three pointer by Lopes fell with 7:10 remaining.
The Bison were able to cut the lead down to four with 1:53 remaining in the matchup, btu the Hawks extended the lead back out to eight after four straight made free throws.
Roger Williams (18-8, 12-2 CNE) will travel to No. 1 Western New England on Thursday, Feb. 27 with the winner advancing to the CNE Tournament Championship on Saturday, Mar. 1.
