Jan. 17, 2009

Box Score

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Poor first-half shooting by the Colonels and strong rebounding from the Jacks led Stephen F. Austin to a 55-40 victory over Nicholls Saturday evening in Southland Conference men's basketball action.

With the loss, the Colonels drop to 8-8 (1-2 SLC), while the Lumberjacks improve to 11-4 (3-0 SLC).

"I felt like there were times where we had four guys who were on the right page and one guy who was on the wrong page and that seemed to be a theme throughout the night," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "In a lot of situations we were our own worst enemy with breakdowns in the scouting report that we had studied."

Sophomore Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley) led Nicholls, pouring in 17 points as he went 5-of-10 from three-point range. Senior Ryan Bathie (Melton, Australia/Mowbray) also reached double figures, netting 12 on the night.

The Colonels were paced defensively by sophomore Kellan Carter (Fresno, Calif./Edison) and freshman Fred Hunter (Denton, Texas/Denton), who eached grabbed three steals, helping Nicholls to nine for the game.

Carter, who entered the game as the No. 18 player in the nation in steals per game with 2.6, also led Nicholls on the glass with five boards, all on the defensive end, joined by Bathie, who also finished with five.

Bose and Hunter each dished out three assists for the Colonels, part of 12 for the team.

Turnovers gave the Colonels trouble in the first half as the Lumberjacks picked up nine points off of 11 Nicholls turnovers. Nicholls shot just 35.3% (6-of-17) through the first 20 minutes to Stephen F. Austin's 54.5% (12-of-22).

Back-to-back treys from Bose gave Nicholls an early 8-7 advantage, but SFA closed out the opening half with a 24-7 run to take a 16-point (31-15) lead to the locker room.

Colonel shooting improved slightly in the second half at 45.5% as Nicholls outscored the Lumberjacks 25-24 in the half.

For Stephen F. Austin, Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsley both reached double figures, scoring 15 and 18, respectively.

"We didn't have that fire that we played with in some of our previous games," Piper added. "We'll address that when we get back to Thibodaux and come out ready to defend our own court for these next two games."

The Colonels will return to Thibodaux for a two-game homestand, taking on Central Arkansas on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., followed by a 5 p.m. tip-off with Northwestern State next Saturday.

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