Final Stats Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX -  Down by 11 to the nation's top defense with 5:37 remaining, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team (11-10, 5-5 Southland Conference) stormed back to within two twice in the final three minutes.  However, it wasn't enough as the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (14-7, 5-4 Southland Conference) held on for the 65-57 win.

The Colonels were playing without junior guard/forward Fred Hunter who began the week ranked 19th in the nation with a .429 shooting percentage and led the team with 6.3 rebounds per night.  Nicholls tried to pick up the slack with a game-high 26 points from senior forward Anatoly Bose, who began the week ranked ninth in the nation with a 21.5 point/game average.  Freshman guard Dantrell Thomas added ten points, marking his second consecutive game scoring in double digits.  Meanwhile, guards Kenny Franklin Jr. and Ben Martin combined to go 5-for-7 from three-point range.

However, the Lumberjacks size advantage proved to be too much as SFA outrebounded the Colonels 35-17, including 13 offensive boards that led to 14 second chance points.

The Lumberjacks came into the game allowing less than 54.0 points/game, the best scoring defense in the country and limited Nicholls to 36.0 percent shooting (18-for-50).  However, the Colonels boasted the second best scoring defense in the Southland Conference and one of the top 25 in the nation, entering the game ranked 22nd allowing an average of just 61.0 points/game.

The Colonel defense racked up 14 steals, led by three each from Bose, Thomas and freshman forward Elridge Moore, and Nicholls scored 23 points off of 19 SFA turnovers.

With 5:37 remaining, Nicholls found themselves trailing 52-41.  However, Nicholls went on a 6-0 run over the next 1:15 to bring it to within five.  Thomas sank a pair of free throws after racking up his second steal of the night and being fouled on the ensuing fast break.  The Many, La. native's foul shots made it 52-47 with 4:22 remaining.

After the Jacks scored on the ensuing possession, the Colonels stormed back as Thomas sank a pair of free throws after being fouled on a fast break started by a Franklin steal.  Thomas then recorded his second steal in under two minutes and the Colonels answered on the other end with a three pointer from Martin to cut the SFA lead to 54-52 with 2:26 left.

After SFA connected on a pair of free throws, Thomas brought it back to within two on a layup in traffic in the paint to make it 56-54 with 1:30 left.  But a successful jumper by the Lumberjacks and a Nicholls turnover on the next possession led to a 60-54 lead with 46 seconds remaining.  Now forced to foul, Nicholls sent the Jacks to the line four times in the final minute with Bose's fifth and final three of the night sandwiched in between a pair of 2-for-2 foul shot attempts by the Jacks in the final minute for the 64-57 win.

Nicholls will now hit the road to take on Lamar in Beaumont, Texas on Saturday.  Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.  The game can be heard in the New Orleans-Houma-Thibodaux area on KLRZ 100.3 FM and KLEB 1600 AM.