Final Stats TROY, Ala. – Trailing by just five points with less than five minutes remaining, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team fought back from a double-digit deficit and was rallying to overtake the Troy men Thursday night. However, the Trojans stormed back by going on a 12-0 run to pull away for good and defeat the Colonels 77-62 in Trojan Arena.

Down by 11 points, 65-54, the Colonels (0-3) went on a six-point swing powered by two of its three double-digit scorers in Shane Rillieux and Jeremy Smith to pull the visitors within five of the Trojans with the clock creeping toward triple-zero's. A layup by Smith, followed by a pair of free throws by Rillieux and a length-of-the-court bucket by the junior guard from New Orleans closed a run that spanned nearly three minutes of the clock to put Nicholls back into the game.

But with 3:50 remaining, Troy's (2-2) Jeff Mullahey hit his second 3-pointer of the night to kick start the Trojan run that put the game out of reach as the game's leading scorer finished with 19 points to power Troy to the win. Nicholls went cold from the field and didn't score until a Dantrell Thomas layup with 44 seconds, giving him his team-high 14th point of the night to halt the run but it was too little too late at that point. Thomas finished the game with his second double-digit scoring night to go along with his eight boards, two assists and two blocks.

The Colonels shot 42 percent from the field – 48 percent in the second half alone –, finishing with three more made baskets than the Trojans, but Troy forced Nicholls 14 turnovers and 27 fouls that sent the home side to the line nearly 40 times to end the night 31-of-36 for an 86 percent clip while the Colonels only made 11 and took just 15.

Smith had 13 points to finish second on the team in scoring, going 6-for-13 from the field with five boards and two assists, while Rillieux sank three buckets and was 4-of-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 11.

Nicholls had six players finish with at least five points against Troy, with JaMarkus Horace chipping in eight, Amin Torres leading the bench with six and Luke Doyle with five.

Mullahey was one of three players to score in double-figures for the Trojans, as he was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line, followed by Tevin Calhoun's 12 and JC Bonny's 11. The Trojans shot 53 percent in the first half on 10-of-19 shooting, sinking 18 free throws in the first 20 minutes and 13 in the second.

The two teams ended the game tied in rebounding, each with 31, while the Colonels pulled down 15 offensive boards to Troy's 11.

Nicholls outgunned the Trojans in all but one of the specialty stats, outscoring Troy 36-32 in points in the paint, 20-16 in points off turnovers, 15-10 in second-chance points and 8-2 on the fast break, but the Trojans bench scored 28 points to Nicholls' 16.

The Colonels return to action on Saturday, closing out its four-game road trip to open the season against nationally-ranked Memphis at 5 p.m. at the FedEx Forum. The game will be televised live on SportsSouth.