Final Stats Logan, Utah – With a seven-point lead at the half, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team looked poised to get its first win in the final game of the World Vision Challenge against UC Davis, but the Aggies went on a 19-9 run spanning nearly eight minutes out of the break as the Colonels fell 82-71 Saturday night in Logan.

With the loss the Colonels fall to 1-8 on the season, while UC Davis improves to 4-7. The loss is Nicholls' sixth straight, dating back to the beginning of the month with one game left before beginning conference play in January.

After going 2-of-11 from the 3-point line in the first half, UCD made eight in the second half to push past the Colonels for good, as they shot over 57 percent in the period and made 14-of-16 free throws after taking just six in the first and making two.

T.J. Carpenter led the Colonels with 21 points in the game on 8-of-12 shooting, with three 3-pointers and two made free throws. Carpenter led three Colonels in double figures, as Amin Torres scored 11 of his season-high 14 points in the second on 5-of-8 shooting, with four of his makes coming from behind the arc. Dantrell Thomas scored in the double-digits in his third consecutive game as he finished with ten points and four assists.

The two teams were nearly even statistically with UCD making two more shots from the field (26) than the Colonels, while Nicholls made one more 3-pointer (11) than the Aggies. Nicholls had its largest lead of the game early in the second half, going up by ten points with 18:51 left in the game. That lead evaporated quickly as UC Davis began to get hot from the field, especially behind the play of Aggie guard Ryan Sypkens who finished with a game-high 27 points, 23 coming in the second half.

Early on against UC Davis the Colonels saw a team that was built very similar to them, as the Aggies were a guard heavy team that relied on ball movement and screens around the 3-point line to create opportunities.

Nicholls and UC Davis played to three ties in the first 20 minutes, but it was the Colonels that finally went into the halftime break leading for the first time all tournament going up 37-30. Both teams combined to take 29 first-half 3-pointers which played into the Colonels' favor as seven of their 13 made shots in the period came from behind the arc.

Carpenter was sharp any time he touched the ball as he scored the first five Nicholls points to open the game, finishing with 12 in the half with two 3-pointers and 4-of-6 shooting overall. Lachlan Prest was just as accurate, getting eight points on 3-of-4 in the field and 2-of-3 from three.

UC Davis took an early 9-5 lead midway through the first ten minutes of the contest, as the Colonels were struggling a bit from the field making just two shots. However, the Colonels began to find its rhythm, outscoring the Aggies 9-4 over the next three minutes to tie the game at 14. Nicholls never gave up the lead for the rest of the half, although UC Davis kept the game close until the final 3:47 when the Colonels went on another 9-4 run to close the quarter.

UC Davis held the edge in points in the paint with a 26-24 advantage, as well as turning seven Colonel turnovers into 10 points. The Colonel trailed in rebounding 38-32, but got none offensive boards that they turned into 11 points.

The Nicholls bench stepped up big scoring 22 points in the game, coming mostly from Torres and Jeremy Smith, who tied his season high with eight points.

Nicholls will return to action next Saturday, traveling to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcasted online at BTN.com.