Final Stats Nicholls-HBU Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. – Trailing at the half for the fourth straight game, the Nicholls men's basketball team did not let the deficit affect them, erupting for 45 points in the second period to defeat the Houston Baptist Huskies 80-70 Saturday afternoon in the Beryl Shipley Classic.

Nicholls (1-3) had three players score in double figures led by freshman Trevon Lewis who finished with 21 points leading all scorers, followed by Dantrell Thomas and Chris Talkington who each finished with 17 points. Lewis made his first seven shots in a row and did not miss until midway through the second period as the Colonels shot a blistering 53-percent from the floor.

After that three at the end of the first, the Colonels would fall behind by as many as six at the outset of the second, and trailed for more than 3-plus minutes. But the Colonels backed by the hot-hand of Sam McBeath, Thomas and Lewis helped Nicholls outscore HBU (1-3) 13-10 to tie the game at 48.

From that point, The Colonels scored 32 points to close out the game, including a 10-3 run after the score was 62-57 that helped put the game away for the Colonels.

“In the middle of the second half I was really pleased with our poise and decision making, and the good shots the team was taking because of it,” head coach J.P. Piper said. “We still have to teach the team how to close out games, but I think we did enough of the right things to win the game.”

Thomas scored 12 points in the second half after only having five to begin the game, while McBeath scored all nine of his points in the final period.

The eight ties and four lead changes were sporadic through the first period, as each team struggled to get their offenses going. Fortunately for the Colonels, the team got hot from behind the three point line, hitting six and shooting 50-percent as a team from the field.

With the score 13-13 with 14 minutes left in the first, it would take nearly four minutes for another team to score, but the Colonels broke the drought and at that point started taking the game over behind the play of Talkington and Lewis, as they were a combined 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Nicholls outscored the Huskies 17-13 over an eight minute period to take a 30-24 lead with 5:30 remaining in the period. But, for the duration of the first half, the Huskies used Nicholls turnovers and got 18 points from their bench in the period to outscore Nicholls 14-7, including a clutch 3-pointer as time expired to take a 38-35 lead heading into the locker room.

Nicholls finished hitting 11 three pointers, as six different Nicholls players made three's in the game. As a team they shot 44-percent, with Talkington hitting four on the night.

Although facing a tough deficit on points in the paint, the Colonels finished with a 28-22 edge on points in the paint, scored 21 points off turnovers and tied in bench scoring with 35 points.

The Colonels will return to action tomorrow in the finale of the classic, facing the host-Cajuns at 3:30 p.m.