Colonels Fall to Unbeaten Washington State in Back-and-Forth Contest

Nov. 27, 2009

ANCHORAGE, AK - The Nicholls State University men's basketball team (0-7) found itself in a dogfight with an undefeated Pac-10 foe on Saturday as the Colonels led Washington State (5-0) at the half and battled the Cougars down to the wire at the Great Alaska Shootout. However, it wasn't enough for the Colonels to pick up their first win of the season as Wazzu rallied in the second half and weathered a late charge by Nicholls to stay perfect on the season by a final of 78-69.

"I thought yesterday, not to take anything away from Alaska-Anchorage, we didn't play well as a team," head coach J.P. Piper said. "We didn't play well together. We didn't share the ball, and I thought that was the step we made from yesterday to today. We played well as a team. There were some moments there where we gave Washington State all they wanted and really caused some problems for them.

"We faltered a little in the second half," Piper said. "I thought they did a good job of upping their intensity and their athleticism became more of a factor. But, I'm encouraged. Our league doesn't look like Washington State's. So, if we can reproduce tonight's effort, that gets us some wins in conference. That's really where we need to be."

Sophomore guard Fred Hunter poured in a season-best 25 points, two shy of his career high, to lead all scorers. Juniors Anatoly Bose (16 points) and Maurice Foster (11 points) each scored in double figures to help the Colonel cause. As a team, Nicholls turned in its best offensive performance of the season, going 25-for-57 from the field for a 43.9 shooting percentage.

"We feel we have a chance to win every game," Hunter said. "We just have to come out and want to win it. I think this was the best game we played this year. We played more as a team and shared the ball more. We tried to share the ball more and not have as many one-on-one plays. If we play like this and we keep getting better in practice and in conference, we can win more games and, hopefully, play longer this year."

Wazzu got off to a fast start with a 5-0 run to open the game. However, the Colonels soon rallied to tie the game at 7-7 on a layup by Foster at the 15:36 mark before taking their first lead of the contest on a three-pointer by Hunter. The sophomore guard's trey staked the Colonels to a 10-9 lead with 13:34 left in the half.

The rest of the half proved to be a dogfight as neither the Cougars nor the Colonels claimed a lead larger than seven the rest of the way. The Colonels went up 23-20 as junior guard Kellan Carter drove the lane for a layup with 6:22 mark. However, WSU reclaimed the lead as DeAngelo Casto scored four straight points for the Cougars to put Wazzu up 24-23 with just under 4:30 left.

Fortunately, for the Colonels, Nicholls responded as junior forward Dominic Friend nailed a three pointer on the next possession to make it 26-24. With just under four minutes left in the half, the Colonels were back up by two.

From there, the Nicholls defense produced consecutive stops, and the Colonel offense got a three-pointer from Bose and a runner in the lane from Kenny Franklin Jr. on the next two possessions as the Colonels claimed a 31-24 seven-point lead (their largest of the half) with just under three minutes remaining in the opening period. However, the Cougars began chipping away by putting together a 5-0 run to close the half and make it 31-29.

It marked the third time this season, the Colonels headed into the half with the lead. Nicholls led the Nov. 13 season opener at Duquesne 36-33 at halftime, and the Colonels were up 33-30 heading into the break against Miami (Ohio) at the World Vision Classic on Nov. 21.

Bose led the Colonels in first half in scoring with ten points and tied with Foster with a team-leading two first half rebounds. Hunter added seven first half points to the Colonel cause and Franklin added five more in the opening period.

The second half picked up where the first half left off as both squads battled back-and-forth. Wazzu reclaimed the lead by going on an 8-5 run to open the half and go out in front 37-36. However, the Colonels reclaimed a 38-37 lead as Hunter finished a fast break by laying it in from the lane with just under 16 minutes remaining.

Once again a big run by the opposition would put the Colonels in trouble, as an 18-8 WSU run gave the Cougars a 56-45 lead, their largest lead of the night with just over ten minutes remaining.

Nicholls refused to go down quietly as the Colonels began putting together a late rally. The Colonels brought it to within seven at 66-59 with 4:39 left as six more points from Hunter contributed to a 14-10 Nicholls run. Nicholls got as close as six points in the final eight minutes, but the Cougars were able to weather the storm.

As the one minute mark came and went, the Colonels found themselves down nine points at 73-64. Forced to foul, the Cougars took advantage, connecting five times from the charity stripe in the final minute. The Colonels got a three from Foster with 12.9 seconds left to make it 77-69, but another Cougar free throw gave Wazzu the 78-69 win.

With the loss, the Colonels will head into the 5th/6th place contest on Saturday, facing off against the Oklahoma Sooners (2-3). OU, which entered the Shootout ranked No. 25 in the nation, is also 0-2 in Anchorage this week. The two teams are slated for a 5:00 p.m. tipoff central time.

Saturday's matchup with the Sooners will conclude a stretch of six games in 11 days at two different tournaments. It will also conclude a stretch of eight consecutive games away from home to open the 2009-10 season.

"We've got some smart kids. They understood that this was going to be difficult," Piper said. "You'd like to have some home games before you head out on the road. You'd like to not play this many in a row on the road. So we talk about how I've stacked the deck against them. But, what I've told them is: 'let's take a two-year approach to this.' We have no seniors on this team, and I've made the first part of this two-year journey together unbelievably hard. It will build character, it will root out weakness and softness, and we need that. We need to know what we have and what we're about. There's been a lot exposed. It hasn't all been pretty, but that's okay. We're going to go through this process, walk through the fire, and the end result will be positive for us. I believe in these young men. I think they believe in each other. As long as we have that, we will keep making strides."

Live stats and streaming webcasts will be available online at www.goseawolves.com, and the game will be broadcast on tape delay on Cox Sports Television in the South Central United States. Check local listings for more information.