Jan. 3, 2009

Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. - The Colonels closed the gap to two points with just over 10 minutes to play, but Ole Miss outlasted Nicholls, claiming a 53-41 victory Saturday afternoon at the Tad Smith Coliseum.

"We were a little flat putting the ball to the hole today," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "I'm not really sure why. We shot well yesterday and today before the game. Every now and then you have a game like this one where you just can't seem to get the shots to go in. They played us in a zone, which played into our favor a little bit because we do shoot the ball so well, but it blew up in our face today."

Pacing Nicholls (6-6) were senior forward Ryan Bathie (Melton, Australia/Mowbray) and sophomore foward Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley), who each reached double figures with 10 points.

Freshman Fred Hunter (Denton, Texas/Denton) led the Colonels with six boards, including five on the offensive end.

Rebounding was even throughout the game, but the Colonels were strong on the offensive glass, where they grabbed 13 of their 27 in the game.

Sophomore forward Dominic Friend (Geelong, Australia/St. Joseph's) dished out four assists, followed by sophomore guard Kellan Carter's (Fresno, Calif./Edison) three.

An offensive rebound and layup from the hands of Hunter gave the Colonels their first lead, 26-25, in the opening minutes of the second half.

Nicholls, who entered the game averaging 49.3% from the floor, was held to just 15-of-49 (30.6%) in the contest, while Ole Miss (9-5) shot 50.0% (19-of-38) for the game.

"I think we had some good looks," Piper added, "we just couldn't get them to go down. I was pleased with our effort to get to the glass, but unfortunately we weren't able to do that late and they ended up shutting us out on the offensive glass toward the end."

Bathie laid in two straight from underneath the basket to knot the game at 15 after the Colonels trailed by as many as seven early in the contest. Ole Miss pulled ahead again, leading by as much as eight (24-16) before a 6-1 run by the Colonels to close out the opening stanza sent the teams to the locker room with the score 25-22 in favor of the Rebels.

The Colonels will close out the non-conference schedule on Monday night, hosting SUNO for a 6:30 p.m. tip in Stopher Gym.

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