Men's Basketball Gets Revenge In 84-77 Victory Over Nichols

Worcester, MA --- Senior Dave Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) recorded his first career double-double with 20 points and 17 rebounds to help lead Worcester State to a 84-77 triumph over Nichols this evening in non conference basketball action at the Lancer Gym.

WSU, who lost to the Bison in the consolation bracket of the Worcester County Classic, earns their first win of the season as both teams records now stand at 1-3.

Third-year Frank Stephenson (Fall River, MA) notched 19 points with eight boards while he also dished out a contest-best six assists. Sophomore Monte Goodwin (Boston, MA/Belmont) added 17 points with five caroms as freshman Emmanuel Ferraud (Worcester, MA/South) tacked on 10 points. Douillette's rebounding total marked a career best.

Nichols was paced by freshman Ryan Sheehan's (Attleboro, MA) season-high 31 points as he went 14-for-16 from the free throw line and connected for 50 percent of his shots from the field (8-for-16). Sophomore Justin Kuntz (Wallingford, CT) also chipped in with 15 points and classmate Kyle Mascilak (Sparta, NJ) tallied nine.

The Lancers dominated the glass as they held a 41-26 rebounding advantage as they also held slim leads in points in the paint (38-30), points off turnovers (25-21) and second chance points (18-17). Both teams shot over 45 percent for the contest while Nichols only hit five of their 17 attempts from three point land (29 percent).

As the Bison maintained the 44-37 edge at the intermission, Worcester State used a 13-6 scoring burst to get back into the game and knot the score at 50-50 at the 14:09 mark.

Over the next seven minutes of game-play, the near capacity audience would witness four lead changes and a pair of ties before the Lancers finally took over the 66-62 advantage over at 7:42 on a lay-up by Douillette and a three-pointer by senior Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA).

Worcester State opened up their largest lead of the game to 76-66 at 4:46 after some points in the paint by Ferraud.

But Nichols wouldn't go away as they went on a 9-0 run to threaten the lead 2½ minutes later highlighted by a trey by Sheehan and a traditional three-point play by Kuntz (76-75).

Following a Lancer turnover, the Bison had a chance to take the lead, but they missed a lay-up opportunity and the Blue and Gold forced a much needed miscue.

Stephenson then converted a field goal for the three point edge (78-75) with 55 seconds remaining before Goodwin blocked a key jumper as Worcester State extended the advantage to five on back-to-back free throws by Ferraud. Ferraud would go 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the waning seconds of the contest to help seal the win.

In the first stanza, Nichols led by as many as 13 points midway through the period (25-12). With the Bison ahead 31-21 with 6:35 left in the opening frame, the Lancers used an 8-3 spurt to get within five (34-29) at the 4:02 mark, but that was as close as they got.

Worcester State will take a break until travel across town to play Clark on December 2 in a 7 PM contest. The Bison will play in the UMass Boston Tournament on Friday and play Trinity at 5:30 in the opening round.