THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team will play its third game in five days on Monday night, taking on the McNeese State Cowboys at 7:30 p.m. in Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
 
The Colonels will look to finish strong on Monday night, as it is also the beginning of a four-game Southland Conference road swing that will have the team away from Thibodaux for the next two weeks.
 
After having a solid game plan against Central Arkansas on Thursday, the Colonels were outgunned by the sharpshooting Oral Roberts Golden Eagles on Saturday, as Nicholls took a tough 76-63 loss to drop the team's record at home to 2-1 on the season. Nicholls trailed by as many as 21 points late in the game, trying to whittle down a double-digit deficit for most of the game.
 
Leading scorers Fred Hunter and T.J. Carpenter were held to a combined seven points during the game, as the Colonels were paced by Dantrell Thomas' team-high 19 points, four steals and two blocks. Carpenter grabbed a career-high nine rebounds on Saturday and had three steals as well as Nicholls finished with ten on the evening. Both Jeremy Smith and Shane Rillieux scored in double figures for the second consecutive game with 11 each, while Amin Torres scored in the double-digits for the fifth time this season with his 11 points, leading the Nicholls bench in scoring for the sixth time.
 
Unfortunately, Nicholls was held to season lows in assists and 3-pointers made, along with getting outrebounded for the sixth-straight game. The team shot right at 38 percent for the contest while the Golden Eagles shot 60 percent in the first half and finished with a 53-percent clip as a squad. The Colonels have lost all four games when their opponent shoots above 53 percent and 1-10 when getting outshot by their opponent overall.
 
Against the Cowboys, Nicholls will be facing a stout group on a bit of a slide as McNeese State has lost three-straight entering Monday's contest. Riding high after upsetting Texas Tech in mid-December, the Cowboys have fallen to North Carolina and their first two conference games of the year in one of the country's highest scoring teams in Northwestern State and stingiest defenses nationally in Stephen F. Austin.
 
Dontae Cannon leads four Cowboy players who average double figures in scoring on the season, while Deshadrick Guidry is ranked nationally in double-doubles and rebounding.
 
Nicholls split last year's meeting with the Cowboys, as the road teams prevailed in each contest. McNeese State has won four of the last five meetings against the Colonels in recent series history, as the Colonels will be looking to earn back-to-back wins in Lake Charles for the first time since accomplishing the feat in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: 100.3 FM KLRZ (Larose, La.); 1600 AM KLEB (Golden Meadow, La.)
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Colonels on the Internet: www.klrzfm.com
Live Stats: www.mcneesesports.com