Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – Stepping out of conference play to take part in the Sears Bracketbuster event, the Nicholls men's basketball team took on a disciplined IUPUI Jaguars team, and although the Colonels rallied late, the team couldn't contain Jaguars forward Alex Young and his 25 points as the Colonels fell 84-80 Saturday afternoon in Thibodaux.

Led by Chris Talkington's 16 points, the Colonels (8-17) had five total players score in double figures, followed by Shane Rillieux's 15, with nine points coming from the free throw line. Young, the tenth leading scorer in the country, was 8-for-12 from the field for the Jags (13-16) and was the game's high scorer.

The Colonels and Jags played as tight of a game as you could have expected for two teams meeting for the first time in over 30 years, as each team made 27 shots on the night on a combined 24 assists. Although the Colonels drained eight 3-pointers on the afternoon, the Jaguars went to the line 31 times, making 25 on the night for an 80-percent clip from the charity stripe.

Averaging just over 72 points per game, the Jaguars were halfway to 86 by the end of the first half and went into the locker room up 43-38.

The Colonels, however, were within a point of the Jags twice three minutes into the second stanza and looking to capitalize on the extra momentum to eventually take the lead, but the defense couldn't get the necessary stops to curtail the IUPUI offense and the Jaguars continued to score, including outscoring Nicholls 27-15 over the next 13 minutes to lead by as many as 13 with a little over 4:30 remaining.

Nicholls didn't give up and kept pace offensively with the Jags, getting ten points from the free throw line in the period and eventually outscoring IUPUI 42-41 in the second half. But the Jags were solid enough from the line to close out the game, even as the Colonels outscored IUPUI 10-4 in the last minutes of the game.

Both teams thrived in the paint, combining for 68 points total in the lane, while the Colonels scored 13 points off of turnovers, four points on the fast break and 21 points from the bench. IUPUI had eight more rebounds than the Colonels in the game and logged 11 second chance points.

The Colonels will return to Southland Conference play on Wednesday, hosting the Central Arkansas Bears in Stopher Gym at 6:30 p.m.