By Jim Fenton

DUDLEY, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped its road opener in the closing seconds of overtime.

Senior Javen Flowers-Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) converted a three-point play with five seconds remaining in the extra session to give Nichols College a 102-99 win over the Bears Saturday afternoon at the Nichols Athletic Center.

BSU falls to 0-2 while the Bison are 1-2.

The Bears had four players in double figures, led by junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) with a career-high 24 points and 13 rebounds (three offensive) to along with four assists and a blocked shot. Taylor connected on 11 of 18 field goals as he recorded the first double-double of his collegiate career.

Junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) added 20 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and had three assists and two steals.

Senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) scored 17 points and had six assists and four rebounds while freshman Tzar Powell-Aparicio (Lowell, Mass.) scored 14 points with four rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Graduate student Dominic Mello (Wareham, Mass.) led Nichols with 28 points and senior Olivier St. Louis (Cambridge, Mass.) scored 25 while Flowers added 21.

The Bears led once in OT and there were a pair of ties in the final two minutes before Nichols prevailed.

BSU took its lone OT lead at 90-89 on a foul shot by Powell-Aparicio with 4:13 left.

After Nichols went ahead, 94-90, Powell-Aparicio hit a layup and two free throws to tie it with 1:59 to play.

A layup by Powell-Aparicio with 42 seconds remaining evened the game at 97, but a turnaround by Mello put Nichols back up, 99-97.

The Bears tied it with less than 10 seconds to go on a layup by Taylor, but Flowers-Smith gave the Bison the win with his three-point play.

BSU, which trailed at halftime, 45-37, took an 87-82 lead with 1:28 to go in regulation on a layup by  Powell-Aparicio.

Nichols closed to 87-86 with 45 seconds left on baskets by St. Louis and Mello, but a Powell-Aparicio layup gave BSU an 89-87 lead with 21 seconds remaining.

Mello then forced OT with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds to go in regulation.

BSU is at Wheaton College at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.