Final Stats LOGAN, Utah. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team had the tough task of taking on host Utah State to open up play in the World Vision Challenge on Thursday night, and put a serious scare into the Aggies late after rallying to pull within three points before eventually falling 79-72 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

The loss drops the Colonels to 1-6 on the season, extending the team's losing streak to four games. Utah State improves to 7-1 on the season and 44-1 all-time when hosting a tournament in Logan.

Nicholls scored 50 second half points and made 18 shots in the period on 50 percent shooting, hitting five of its seven 3-pointers, taking a season-high 30 attempts on the night.

Going into the break down 21 points, the Colonels began to click offensively in the second, but none more so than the 11-4 run Nicholls went on to cut the USU lead from 20 to just 14. The run was sparked by Nicholls' two leading scorers on the night, getting a layup from Fred Hunter who scored 15 points in the game, and three consecutive 3-pointers by game-leader T.J. Carpenter. Hunter finished the game with 17 points and ten boards for his second double-double of the year and fourth of his career.

Carpenter scored his 21st point of the game on his fourth three of the second with 3:50 left in the game, pulling the Colonels to within five of the Aggies for the second time under the ten minute mark. Carpenter brought the Colonels to within three points hitting two free throws to make the score 69-66 Utah State, but earned his fifth foul two possessions later and exited the game.

The Utah State lead continued to shrink as a Dantrell Thomas layup kept the Colonels to within three with the score 73-70, but a hoop and harm foul on the Aggies' Spencer Butterfield pushed the lead to 76-70 with 41 seconds left. An Amin Torres Jumper was the last set of points for the Colonels on the night, as USU put the game away with two final free throws. 

Thomas was the second Nicholls player to finish with a double-double, as in his first game of the season he finished with 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting with ten rebounds. Torres netted his second double-digit scoring output of the season as he finished with ten points on 4-of-7 from the field.

Nicholls held the Aggies to just two points heading into the first media break of the game, taking its only lead at the 15:15 mark to go up 4-2. After falling behind 7-4, T. J. Carpenter hit a tough runner and got fouled, converting on the three-point play to tie the game at seven.

Unfortunately for the Colonels, Utah State began to get hot from the field and from the 13:32 mark of the first went on an 11-0 run spanning nearly five minutes to go up 18-7 and went on to take its largest lead of the half into the locker room up 43-22.

Hunter led the Colonels with nine points, being held below double-digit points in the first half for the first time this season as he made three of Nicholls' eight shots in the half. Nicholls shot 24 percent in the half, while USU made 15, connecting on three 3-pointers to finish with a 57-percent clip.

The Colonels were aided by the fact that they only turned the ball over six times on the game, while forcing USU into 13 and scoring 17 points off of those chances. Nicholls finished behind the Aggies in the rebounding column, 41-33, but grabbed 17 offensively.

The Aggies took nearly double the amount of free throws than the Colonels, finishing the night going 23-of-34 from the line, while Nicholls just shot 18 and made 13.

The Colonels will play in their second game of the tournament tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. against the Southern Illinois Salukis, who earlier in the day on Thursday fell to UC Davis 78-70.