HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College Bantams opened up an 18-2 lead and never looked back in their season-opening, 74-55 victory over the visiting Nichols College Bison in men's basketball action this afternoon on Ogrodnik Court in Oosting Gymnasium.  Nichols, which shot just 36.2 percent from the floor and missed 24 of 28 three-point attempts, drops to 1-1.  Junior captain Ben Callahan-Gold (New York, N.Y.) paced Trinity with 18 points and added five rebounds.  

Trinity senior captain Joe Hoch (South Ozone Park, N.Y.) made a three-pointer to make it, 18-2, and at the 11:43 mark and Callahan-Gold made another to put the Bantams ahead, 31-13, with 4:40 on the clock.  Nichols closed the first half with a 10-2 run and trailed, 33-23, at the break.  Jason O'Regan made a steal and a dunk to bring the Bison to within single digits to open the second half, but Callahan-Gold answered with a jumper and Trinity maintained at least a 10-point cushion the rest of the way.  Bantam sophomore guard Will Dorion (Needham, Mass.) gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 61-39 with eight minutes left.

Four Bantams finished in double digits in scoring, as Redd scored 15 points with five rebounds and two steals, Hoch had 10 points, five boards, and three assists off the bench, and Dorion totaled 10 points and four assists.  Trinity junior Gilbert Otoo (Burtonsville, Md.) registered five points, a team-high 10 rebounds, and three steals.  Matthew Alectus scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for Nichols.  Tavon Jones came off the Bison bench to score 13 points.