Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team had three players score in double figures and held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi without a bucket for seven-straight minutes in the second half to defeat the Islanders 69-62 Thursday night in Thibodaux.

With the win the Colonels improve to 5-12 on the season and 4-3 in the Southland Conference. The victory improved Nicholls' record to 3-1 in Stopher Gym this season, as the Islanders fall to 2-15 on the year and 1-6 in league play.

Senior guard Fred Hunter led all scorers with 19 points on the night on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor, hitting two of Nicholls' four made 3-pointers on the night. Dantrell Thomas scored all 15 of his points in the second half, while Jeremy Smith scored in double-digits for the fourth consecutive game as he finished with 11 points.

The Colonels led by as many as 17 points midway through the second half, keeping a double-digit lead on the Islanders for most of the period before A&M-Corpus Christi began to press the Colonels late, forcing Nicholls into turnovers and costly points as the Islanders pulled to within six points with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

Trailing by 11 points at the start of the second half, the Colonels outscored A&M-Corpus Christi 13-5 over the course of 7:35 in the period to take a 44-27 lead. During that run, the Islanders went over seven minutes without scoring as Nicholls jumped out to its largest lead of the game, looking like it would cruise to the easy victory. The Colonels finished the night shooting 50 percent as a team, making 25 shots to A&M-Corpus Christi's 18 and 37-percent clip.

Since they were struggling from the field, the Islanders began to turn up the defensive pressure and began to press Nicholls on made baskets, while getting Nicholls into foul trouble. A total of 52 fouls were called in the game after the two teams combined for just 19 in the first half. The Islanders finished the night going 21-for-28 from the charity stripe, going 17-for-24 in the second half as Nicholls was called for 28 fouls in the second.

With a slim 57-51 lead, a JaMarkus Horace dunk sparked a 6-0 Nicholls run to push the lead back to double digits with 3:14 remaining in the game, as the Islanders never got any closer than seven points for the rest of the contest as Nicholls held on for the win.

Hunter scored 12 of his team-high 19 in the first half, as he drilled back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to take the Colonels from being down 4-3, to being up 9-4, the last time the lead changed hands on the night. Smith had nine, while Pedro Maciel in his second start had five points on 2-of-3 shooting. Thomas, who had no buckets in the first half, finished with just four makes on the night, but did most of his damage at the free throw line after going 7-for-9 in the final period.

Nicholls held the advantage in every specialty stat, outscoring A&M-Corpus Christi 40-18 in paint points, 23-17 in points off turnovers, 6-0 in fast break points and 25-16 in bench scoring. 

The Colonels will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Sam Houston State Bearkats at 4 p.m. in Stopher Gym.