Jan. 10, 2009

Box Score

NATCHITOCHES, La. - With a season-best 20 steals and 24 points off of 25 Demon turnovers, the Colonels opened Southland Conference play with a 69-60 win over Northwestern State Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.

The Colonels improve to 8-6 (1-0 SLC), while the Demons drop to 8-8 (0-1 SLC).

Sophomore Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley) set a new season benchmark with four steals, while senior Justin Payne (Opelousas, La./Opelousas) and sophomore Kellan Carter (Fresno, Calif./Edison) and led the Colonels with six and five, respectively.

"I thought we had a phenomenal game plan and our guys executed it to a 'T'," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "Kellan [Carter] and Justin [Payne] were in the right place at the right time. We told them that if they'd be there, they'd have the opportunity to get a win."

Nicholls shot 25-of-49 (51.0%) from the field, led by the duo of Bose and senior Ryan Bathie (Melton, Australia/Mowbray). While Bathie led all scorers with 20 points behind 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, Bose also reached double figures, pouring in 18.

Sophomore Dominic Friend (Geelong, Australia/St. Joseph's) also reached double figures, as a pair of free throws put him at 11 in the final seconds of the contest.

Bathie also led the Colonels on the glass with seven, part of a team 31 boards, including nine on the offensive end. Carter and Bose each finished with six rebounds

Nicholls held a comfortable lead through much of the game, though the Demons tied the match at 52 with just over five minutes remaining before the Colonels ran away for the win.

The Colonel defense was stifling, holding the Demons scoreless through a 4:14 stretch early in the first half and taking advantage of a 13 unanswered points to jump out to a 17-5 lead. Northwestern State pulled within two late in the half, but Nicholls closed out the opening 20 minutes with a 12-2 run to take a 34-22 advantage into the locker room.

"I couldn't be prouder of the effort on the defensive end by the whole group because this truly was a team effort," Piper added. "This was a heck of an effort on their part and I'm just so proud of the way they came out today."

Entering the game ranked 18th in the nation in steals per game (9.5), Nicholls finished the opening half in double figures with 12, picking up 17 of their 34 points off of Northwestern State turnovers.

Nicholls, who also entered the game as the No. 19 shooting team in the country (48.7%), shot 51.9% (14-of-27) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. Bose reached double figures in the opening half to lead all scorers with 10 points.

The Colonels will return to Southland Conference action Wednesday, hosting Texas-San Antonio for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off in Stopher Gym.

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