Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – Paced by five players in double figures and shooting a 75-percent clip in the first half, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team earned its first win of the season on Monday night, defeating the UNO Privateers 92-79 in Stopher Gym in Thibodaux.

With the win the Colonels improve to 1-2 on the year, while UNO falls to 2-3. Nicholls snapped a five-game losing streak dating back to last season in the process, earning its third-straight win over the Privateers.

Leading all players, Nicholls senior guard Fred Hunter earned his third straight 20-point outing, finishing with 22 points after going 7-of-11 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. The Denton, Texas native was a perfect 4-for-4 on shots in the first half, sinking seven free throws to finish with 15 in the first half.

After seeing an increase in playing time over the past few games, Nicholls got a boost from its bench from JaMarkus Horace who scored a career-best 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, grabbing four rebounds in just 15 minutes of action. Nicholls and UNO each got 29 points from the bench, as both teams had 11 players check into the game on the night. 

After getting to the free throw line a combined 29 times against Vanderbilt and Missouri, the Colonels were aggressive offensively from the beginning of the game and went to the charity stripe 37 times against the Privateers, making 28. In the second half alone the Colonels were 17-for-24 at the line, while UNO was 17-for-25 for the length of the contest.

Nicholls jumped out of the gate hitting the first four shots the team took, getting 3-pointers by Sam McBeath and T.J. Carpenter – as both finished with 11 points in the contest – before Hunter took over scoring nine of the next 13 points as the Colonels led 19-14. Nicholls was deadly from behind the three point line, hitting all six of its 3-pointers in the first, finishing the night 6-of-12 as a team.

Nicholls led by as many as 16 points in the first half, outscoring UNO 13-5 over the final 6:50 of the period to go into the break up 47-31, and held its largest lead of the game going up 24 in the second half by going on a 13-1 run that spanned over five minutes between the end of the first and beginning of the second.

The Privateers and their up tempo style began to give the Colonels fits in the second half, as UNO forced Nicholls into 11 of its 20 total turnovers in the final stanza, but Nicholls still was able to outscore New Orleans 27-23 in points off turnovers, forcing 23.

Shane Rillieux scored 10 of his final 13 points in the second, getting two tough buckets in the lane late in the game, while going 6-for-6 from the line in the game's waning minutes. Nicholls outscored the Privateers 46-34 in the paint and turned nine of its team-high 34 rebounds into 14 second chance points.

Nicholls returns to action on Saturday morning, taking on No. 13 Michigan State in the Breslin Center in East Lansing.