Jan. 20, 2010

Final Stats

CONWAY, Ark. - Junior forward Maurice Foster scored a team-high 14 points and sophomore point guard Chris Iles added ten, but the Nicholls State University men's basketball team (6-11, 2-2 Southland Conference) could not overcome a fast start and a raucous home crowd as the University of Central Arkansas Bears (7-11, 1-3 Southland) handed the Colonels a 64-50 defeat on Wednesday night.

The Bears welcomed a stadium-record 5,297 fans to an already cramped Farris Center to celebrate the retirement of the jersey number of UCA basketball alum, and six-time NBA champion, Scottie Pippen. Central Arkansas used that energy to open the game with a 9-0 run.

The Colonels rallied to within two as junior guard Kenny Franklin Jr. drained a three to make it 9-7 with 14:37 left in the first, but the Bears stepped on the gas in the first half and twice built leads as big as 17 points.

With junior guard Anatoly Bose failing to score in the first half and sophomore guard/forward Fred Hunter on the bench in the opening half thanks to early foul trouble, the Colonels received no points from either of their top two scorers in the opening frame and failed to keep pace with the Bears.

Iles went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds of the first half, but the Colonels still faced a 31-18 halftime deficit.

Nicholls saw 24 points come off the bench, and the Colonels began to heat up in the second half. After a first half team shooting percentage of just 27.3% (6-for-22), Nicholls shot 36.7% (11-for-30). However, it wasn't enough to make up the lost ground on the Bears.

Tadre Shepperd tallied 21 points to lead all scorers on the night, and Mitch Reuter (14) and Chris Poellnitz (11) also turned in double digit scoring efforts for the Bears.

UCA shot 53.8% (21-for-39) from the field as a team on the night to stay out in front of the Colonels the rest of the way.

Nicholls will stay on the road for its third crack at its first road win of the conference season when the Colonels head to Northwestern State on Saturday. The Colonels will try for a season sweep of NSU after beating the Demons in Thibodaux on Jan. 9.

Saturday's game will be part of a double header that features the two school's women's teams tipping off at 4 p.m. The men's game will be the nightcap beginning at 7 p.m.

The two contests will be the Southland Conference Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network. Check local listings for channels and times.