Final Stats SHSU-Nicholls Box Score

Thibodaux, La. – Trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, the Nicholls men's basketball team fought to within one of the visiting Sam Houston State Bearkats twice, but free throws and clutch 3-pointers by SHSU late wouldn't be enough to overcome and the Colonels lost to the Bearkats 75-65 Saturday afternoon in Thibodaux.

The Colonels (4-12, 0-4 SLC) got 16 points from Trevon Lewis and 13 from Dantrell Thomas off the bench, in his first real action since playing against UTA Jan. 5.

With the score 53-38 in favor of Sam with 14:49 left in the second period, the Colonels finally put together a strong rally, going on a 14-0 run to pull within one of the Bearkats with less than half of the game left.

Sam jumped back out to a five point lead after a made 3-pointer by Demarcus Gatlin and free throws by Marcus James, but four-straight points by Jeremy Smith kept the Colonels within a possession of the Bearkats again.

However, it was the last time Nicholls came that close to SHSU, as the Bearkats outscored the Colonels 10-2 over the next four minutes to take a 68-58 lead with less than 90 seconds remaining in the contest.

The Colonels committed ten more fouls than the opposition (25-15) and it showed at free throw line. The Bearkats went 24-of-34 at the line while Nicholls went to the charity stripe just 19 times, making 13.

Fouls also played a pivotal role in the game as technical fouls were assessed to both teams at one point during the game, including one on SHSU's Antuan Bootle that had him ejected from the game.

The first half was tough to the Colonels, as the team made only one shot from the field in the first ten minutes of the game. Nicholls scored nine of their first 11 points from the free throw line before Chris Talkington hit a 3-pointer at the 10:40 mark.

Nicholls only hit 8-of-21 shots from the field in the half and trailed the Bearkats 36-29 after Sam shot 60-percent from the floor in the period alone. Sam continued to shoot well in the second for a 41-percent clip and finished the game hitting 50-percent to the Colonels' 44-percent FG percentage.

The Colonel bench outscored the Bearkats 31-18, but the Kats had the edge in second chance points (14-8) and points off of turnovers (27-15).

The Colonels hit the road next week, first taking on the Central Arkansas Bears Wednesday night before a tilt with rival Southeastern on Saturday.