Nov. 16, 2007

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Colonels led by as many 13 in the early goings of the first half, but Tulane tightened up their defense and pulled away in the second period in Fogelman Arena on Friday night to win 73-51.

Nicholls is now 0-16 against Tulane in the series dating back to the 1981-82 season.

"We played well in spurts, but Tulane played tougher and made things work for themselves," said head coach J.P. Piper. "It is going to be great for us to travel to California all next week and the team is looking forward to it."

The Colonels (1-2) trailed the Green Wave (3-0) by only seven points at half, but could not find a rhythm in the second period as they shot 16.1 percent (5-of-31) from field goal range. For the game, Nicholls shot 27.6 percent (16-of-58) from the floor and 22.2 percent (6-of-27) from behind the arc, all of which were season lows.

Of the six three point shots made in the game, four of them came from sophomore Michael Czepil who finished with a game high 16-points. His game high point total was the second straight game that he led the contest in scoring, and to go along with his 16 against Tulane, Czepil had three rebounds, two assists, and his first career block.

Another standout for the Colonels was junior Ryan Bathie with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and one block. The only other scorer in double digits for the Colonels was sophomore Mitch Boyce who had 10-points off the bench. Boyce had three rebounds, one assists, and no turnovers in his 17 minutes of work on the hardwood in the loss. Only scoring three points but leading the Colonels in rebounds was senior Adonis Gray with seven.

The Green Wave had four players in double figures with Louisme Robinson leading the way with 14. Robinson also had a game high tie in rebounds with team mate David Gomez and the Colonel's Gray.

Nicholls will travel to California to take on Cal, UC-Davis, and St. Mary's all next week. The Colonels will play at Cal to start off the west coast swing on Monday at 9:30 p.m., and pre-game on 105.9 FM KBZE will start at 9:15 p.m. with Brennan Matherne giving the call.

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