Feb. 4, 2009

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - Behind a strong defense and a 23-point performance by sophomore Anatoly Bose (Sydney, Australia/Waverley), the Colonel men's basketball team upset the No. 12 Mid-Major team in the country and won its fifth-straight Southland Conference game, a 57-50 victory over Stephen F. Austin Wednesday night in Stopher Gym.

The win puts the Colonels and Lumberjacks in a tie for first place in the SLC East.

"I'm extremely proud of our guys," said Head Coach J.P. Piper. "I just absolutely love the defensive effort that we got in the second half. I thought it was tremendous."

The Lumberjacks (14-6, 6-2 SLC) cut the Colonel lead to four (52-48) with 35 seconds remaining, but four-straight free throws from Bose secured the victory for Nicholls.

Bose picked up his third double-double of the season adding 10 rebounds to his season-high 23 points. The 6-6 guard/forward went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe, while grabbing a team-high two steals.

With 3:29 to go in the first half, SFA held a five-point lead (21-16), but four-straight points from senior Ryan Bathie (Melton, Australia/Mowbray) cut the Lumberjack lead to one and swung momentum towards the Colonels.

"I thought Stephen F. Austin did a great job defensively," Piper added, "and it was just a matter of whose defense was going to break first. Luckily we were at home, made a few big shots and got the momentum to swing our way a little bit. We fed off of the crowd and carried it home."

Bathie and senior Justin Payne (Opelousas, La./Opeousas) each reached double figures for the Colonels, pouring in 14 and 10, respectively, and combining for eight rebounds.

Sophomore Kellan Carter (Fresno, Calif./Edison) handed out three assists to lead Nicholls, while Bathie and freshman Fred Hunter (Denton, Texas/Denton) each knocked down a block.

The Colonels held the No. 10 scorer in the league, SFA forward Josh Alexander, to just two points on the night. Alexander finished 1-of-7 from the floor, part of 19-for-48 (39.6%) shooting by the Lumberjacks. SFA shot just 18.8% (3-for-16) from beyond the arc.

Nicholls also beat Stephen F. Austin on the boards, pulling down 32 to the Jacks' 25 and held SFA to just one offensive rebound through the first 39+ minutes of action.

"It was an unbelievable atmosphere in [Stopher] and I'm so excited that our guys got that pay day," noted Piper. "We tell our guys that if you work hard enough and if you do things the right way, eventually you start to have some success and people will come out to support your effort, so it was tremendous to see that crowd. And for them to be as active in the game as they were made a huge difference for us. We fed off of the eruptions from the crowd and it really got our guys excited."

The Colonels return to action Saturday, hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a 3 p.m. tip-off in Stopher Gym.

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