THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University men's basketball team (14-12, 8-7 Southland Conference) will try to tie a school record by clinching their third consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearance with a win in the regular season finale against their closest conference rival when the Colonels head to Hammond in search of a season sweep of Southeastern Louisiana (14-13, 8-7 Southland Conference) in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Colonels are just one victory shy of only their third 15-win season in the last ten years and enter the final game of the season controlling their own destiny.  Nicholls can clinch its third consecutive conference tournament appearance, a feat reached just once before in the history of the program when the Colonels went to the 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 tournaments, with a win over the Lions.  Nicholls can also clinch a tournament appearance with a loss if the right sequence of tiebreakers fall into place for the Colonels.

Nicholls will look to repeat the success they found against Southeastern La. on Jan. 22 when the Colonels scored a convincing 66-52 win over the Lions in Stopher Gym in Thibodaux.  Nicholls got a game-high 22 points from senior forward Anatoly Bose, but the Colonels will have to find a way to replace the 13 points produced by junior guard/forward Fred Hunter that day.  The Denton, Texas native suffered a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 8, taking away the Colonels' leading rebounder, second leading scorer, and (at the time) the 19th best field goal percentage in the nation.

However, after a three-game losing streak, the Colonels have found ways to win without Hunter, racking up three victories in their last four games.  Nicholls is fresh off a thrilling 83-81 overtime victory in their home court finale against Northwestern State on Wednesday night.  The Colonels celebrated Senior Night with senior forward Anatoly Bose racking up 30 points to become just the third player in school history to surpass the 2,000 career point mark.  Bose scored nine points in overtime, including making the go-ahead four-point play with 12 seconds left and a clutch free throw with two seconds left to ice it.

Bose has continued to lead the Colonels all season long, entering the final regular season game of his career ranked ninth in the nation with a 22.2 point/game scoring average.

On defense, Nicholls is led by a unit that owns the sixth best turnover margin in the country at +4.5/game and ranks 40th nationally with an 8.0 steal/game average.  The Colonel defense is led by senior guard Kellan Carter who ranks 77th nationally with a 1.8 steal/game average and needs just 12 more steals to reach the 200 career steals mark.

Tipoff between the Colonels and Lions is set for Noon at the University Center in Hammond.  The game is the final Southland Conference Television Network Game of the Week of the regular season.  Fans should check their local listings or www.southland.org for affiliate channel information and broadcast times specific to their viewing area.  A free live streaming video webcast of the game will be made available through SLC NOW, the official online streaming video outlet of the Southland Conference, available at www.southland.org.