Adam Dudzinski scored 17 points, had a career high 15 rebounds, and the St. Lawrence men's basketball came back from down 13 in the second half to beat the Nichols Bison in a neutral site matchup Friday night in Dudley, Mass. 

The Saints move to 6-2 on the season with the non-conference victory. 

"We started slow, but got our feet underneath us in the second half, " said Saints head coach Chris Downs. "We played a much better defensive game as the game progressed and were able to pull away with the victory."  

The Saints offense took a five-point lead in the first four minutes to lead 9-4, but then went cold for a long stretch of time, failing to score for the next six minutes until Troy McPherson dropped a two.

During this period of the game, Nichols took their first lead 10-9 and then with just under eight minutes left, the Bison got out in front by two possessions 17-13. The remainder of the half was within one possession until Nichols ended the half on a 10-0 run and the Saints trailed 33-22 at the break. Andrew Cowan led St. Lawrence with six points at half. 

At the start of the second half, the Saints obtained a little bit of momentum going with a 13-4 run, and a Bison lead that was once 13 points was trimmed down to four. Trey Syroka hit a three in this run and Dudzinski had six points.

At the 12-minute mark of the second half, the Saints used a 8-0 run to take the lead 48-47, earning their first advantage since they led 11-10 in the first half. With 6:54 remaining, Nichols had a 51-48 lead, but St. Lawrence received timely back-to-back threes by Alexi Twahili and Dudzinski to take a 54-51 lead.

The Scarlet and Brown used their stingy defense to get the job done the rest of the way and Nichols never managed to tie or take the lead the rest of the game. The Saints were up 58-56 at the 2:22 mark, but scored the final eight points of the game to win by double figures, outscoring the Bison 44-23 in the second half. 

In addition to the star play from Dudzinski, Cowan had 12 points and six rebounds to place right behind Dudzinski in both those categories. He also had a critical block in the final minutes of the game. Dan Anderson and Syroka each pitched in with five assists. Besides the 21-point margin in the second half, St. Lawrence held Nichols to 26 per cent from the floor in the half and outrebounded the Bison 31-16. 

The Saints will look to carry the momentum into Monday's game in another non-conference matchup against Clark University on the road at 2 p.m.