Dec. 6, 2008

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - Behind 33 points off of Southern turnovers, the Colonel men's basketball team ran to a 75-56 victory over the Jaguars Saturday afternoon in Stopher Gym.

"The way we look to see if we're operating well offensively is the assist column and the turnovers," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "If that is at 20 and nine each night then we're obviously doing something right."

With the win, the Colonels even their record at 3-3, while Southern falls to 0-6.

Freshman Fred Hunter (Denton, Texas/Denton) lead all scorers, pouring in 19 points. Hunter went 7-for-9 from the floor, adding five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Following Hunter was sophomore Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley) with 17 points and four assists. Bose and senior Ryan Bathie (Melton Australia/Mowbray) each grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Also in double figures was freshman Kyle Ford (Whitehouse, Texas/Whitehouse) who went 4-for-8 from three-point land for a career-high 14 points.

Southern opened the game with an 8-3 run, holding the lead until midway through the first half, when a layup by Ford put the Colonels up for good (21-19). Four-straight free throws helped put Nicholls on top 36-27 as the teams went to their locker rooms for the halftime break.

"I'm really pleased with what we're doing on both ends of the floor," Piper noted. "We had some really intense practices this week leading into this game. Kyle was a great spark today off the bench and a big part of why we outscored them 19-8 off the bench. It seamed like we were a little lethargic to start off, but Kyle came in and gave us the spark we were looking for."

The Colonels dominated the second half, leading by as many as 21 to wrap up their third win of the season.

Nicholls forced 19 Jaguar turnovers, while committing just nine of their own.

Entering the game as the No. 28 in the country in assists per game (17.2), the Colonels dished out 20, led by the trio of Bathie, Bose and Hunter.

"One of our goals for the season is to defend our home court." added Piper, "`so to win two games here is a great start for us."

The Colonels will return to action Wednesday, hosting Huston Tillotson for a 6:30 p.m. tip in Stopher Gym.

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