Final Stats Nicholls-Lamar Box Score

Beaumont, Texas – A solid day from Bryan Hammond wasn't enough to help the Nicholls State University men's basketball team overcome the Lamar Cardinal attack, as the Colonels fell in Beaumont 80-56 in the Montagne Center.

Hammond led the team with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting, followed by Smith with 11, nine coming in the first half.

Riding the hot hand of Mike James, who scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half alone, Lamar (12-8, 4-3) finished with four players in double figures, shooting 62-percent in the game as a team against the Colonels (5-15, 1-7).

Nicholls was able to keep pace with the Cardinals offensively in the second half scoring 32 points in the final period, but the Colonels would only come to within 13 points of the Cards for the rest of the game as Lamar went on to win by 24, the largest lead of the afternoon.

The Colonels got the exact looks they wanted to start the game, keeping the Lamar defense confused while getting high-percentage shots right under the basket. Nicholls scored their first ten points all on layups.

Nicholls led by as many as four, capitalizing on a sluggish start by the Cards, but a 7-1 run by Lamar over 1:30 midway through the period put the Cards up, with their lead growing by as many as 11 with 2:43 left before the break.

Once Lamar got going, The Colonels couldn't catch up as they outscored the Colonels 21-11 over the last 10:11 of the half, scoring 11 points off of Nicholls turnovers, leading to six fast break points to go into the half up 39-24.

By the second half, Lamar seemed as if they couldn't miss, hitting 17 shots on 27 attempts in the period, hitting three of their five 3-pointers in the half.

The Colonels finished with a 44-percent shooting clip on the day, making only three 3-pointers against Lamar. After struggling at the free throw line going 1-of-5 in the first period, the Colonels rebounded in the second hitting 8-of-12.

Nicholls fell one rebound shy of tying the Cardinals in rebounding 26-27, but grabbed 10 offensive boards that turned into nine second-chance points for the Colonels on the day.
The Colonel bench outscored Lamar's 16-13 on the afternoon, but the Cards scored 38 points in the paint and 13 points off of 12 Nicholls turnovers.

The Colonels open up a two-game home stand beginning on Wednesday, hosting the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in Stopher Gym Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.