Final Stats LAKE CHARLES, La. – After leading by as many as 19 points in the first half, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team allowed McNeese State to go on a 31-9 run over a good chunk of the second half to eventually come back and take an eight-point lead Monday night, but the Colonels withstood the rally and outscored the Cowboys 17-10 late to hold on for a nail-biting 64-63 win in Burton Coliseum.

With the win the Colonels improve to 3-10 on the season and 2-1 in Southland Conference play, defeating the Cowboys in Lake Charles in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2009 and 2010 seasons. McNeese runs its losing streak to four-straight, falling to 6-7 on the year and 0-3 in league play.

Dantrell Thomas tallied a career-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting in the game, while Fred Hunter earned his third double-double of the season, playing a big role in keeping the lead late with key rebounds, scoring 12 points and grabbing a career-high tying 13 boards. Nicholls had three players finish in double figures as T.J. Carpenter had 11 with a team-high three steals.

After playing a suffocating style of defense in the first half, the Colonels were not able to match the intensity of the Cowboys out of the locker room, as McNeese State went on a 10-0 run to cut the Nicholls lead to just eight points, as they scored 12 straight points from the end of the first and into the run, outscoring the team 12-4 to pull within eight at 42-34.

It was only the beginning for the Cowboys as they were relentless defensively in forcing the Colonels into turnovers and capitalizing, quickly making it a one-point game with the score 47-46 in favor of Nicholls after outscoring the Colonels 24-9 over the first nine minutes of the second. The home side eventually took the lead quickly thereafter as Nicholls did not have a made basket for over seven minutes and was outscored 31-9 as McNeese State had its lead grow by as many as eight points with less than ten remaining in the game.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by T.J. Carpenter cut the Cowboy lead to just three with the score 58-55, as Thomas got the hoop-and-harm three-point play after a couple of McNeese free throws to pull the Colonels to within two points, 60-58. Consecutive turnovers by the Cowboys with less than four minutes remaining allowed Hunter to score three consecutive points to give Nicholls the lead back 61-60. A pair of free throws by Carpenter pushed the lead to three points with less than 2:30 remaining in the game, as the two teams traded the next three points at the free throw line to give Nicholls a one-point 64-63 lead, as McNeese State would get the final shot off but went off the left side of the rim to give Nicholls the win.

After holding a 13-2 advantage in points off turnovers, McNeese forced Nicholls into 14 second-half turnovers while only committing five in the period to finish the game with a 19-16 advantage as the Colonels committed 20 in the game to McNeese's 13.

Thomas scored seven of the first nine Nicholls points to start the game, as the Colonels and Cowboys only combined for 18 points after the first eight minutes of the contest. The junior was the only Colonel with more than one shot made in the more than halfway through the period before getting six quick points from Linden Smith-Hyde on two made 3-pointers as the Colonels took a 21-10 lead with less than nine minutes left in the frame. Thomas finished the half leading all players with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

Thomas' four made shots in the first were as many as McNeese State had as a team for most of the first, as the Cowboys shot 27 percent from the field and had just three players with more than a made shot from the field going over seven minutes without scoring a basket. A 12-0 run by the Colonels gave Nicholls a large advantage up 18 points leading 28-10, and even as McNeese State found its stride late, went into halftime leading 38-22.

For the first time in the last six games the Colonels outrebounded an opponent, pulling down 41 rebounds, 17 of them offensively, while the Cowboys had 32. McNeese State held advantages in points in the paint 30-26, and in second chance points 8-6. The Colonels had a 13-6 edge in fast break points, while getting 18 points off the bench to the Cowboys' 15.

Nicholls will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, taking on another rival in Southeastern La. in Hammond with tipoff set for 4 p.m. at the University Center.