Feb. 14, 2009

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - Senior Ryan Bathie (Melton, Australia/Mowbray) nailed a pair of free throws with 21 seconds remaining to break a 50-50 stalemate and give the Colonels their eighth Southland Conference victory, a 52-50 win over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday afternoon in Stopher Gym.

The win is the Colonels' second-straight, giving Nicholls the sweep over Southeastern for the season. Nicholls has now won seven of their last eight outings.

"We knew today was going to be a war," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "I have a ton of respect for Southeastern [Louisiana]. They didn't like the way things ended at their place, so we knew they were going to come at us hard today. I'm really pleased that we could take their best shots and still find a way to win this game at home."

Bathie paced the Colonels with 23 points and a career-high five steals. Sophomore Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley) added 15 points and three assists, and was Nicholls' leader on the glass with six.

Senior Justin Payne (Opelousas, La./Opelousas) dished out a team-high four assists and was one of five Colonels to record a steal.

The Lions led for much of the game, at one point by 11 points, but the Colonels managed to erase an eight-point (30-22) halftime deficit as a trey from Bathie at the 4:07 mark tied the game at 47-all.

The Colonels suffered in the first half, going nearly 10 minutes without a field goal to fall behind by a game-high 11 points.

"We were really worried about that little drought that we hit offensively and we felt like we were our own worst enemy through a lot of that," noted Piper. "We turned the ball over - traveling and taking bad shots - and we just needed to play through that and clean it up. I think the guys responded well to what we talked about at halftime and came out and took care of business in the second half."

Bathie, Bose and junior Mike Czepil (Hoppers Crossing, Australia/Thomas Carr) all sank threes for the Colonels during a 10-5 run that closed out the victory for Nicholls.

Nicholls out-rebounded the Lions 28-21, pulling down 11 offensive boards to Southeastern's three.

The Colonels have a bye Wednesday, but will travel to Texas State Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip-off with the Bobcats.

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