Final Stats AUBURN, Ala. – After trailing by just single digits after the end of the first period in the season opener against Auburn, the Nicholls men's basketball team was unable to keep the Tigers from double-digits – and the free throw line – as the Colonels fell 76-54 Friday night in Alabama.

With the loss the Colonels (0-1) drops its fifth consecutive contest to the Tigers (1-0) after winning the first meeting between the two teams in 1993. Nicholls was looking for its first season-opening win since 2008 and just its third over a school from the Southeastern Conference.

Nicholls was led by T.J. Carpenter and Jeremy Smith's nine points each, as no Colonel finished the night in double figures after 12 players saw action in the contest. Dantrell Thomas and Cade Towers each chipped in eight while Shane Rillieux and JaMarkus Horace each had seven.

The squad struggled offensively shooting 34 percent from the field, as Nicholls was just 11-for-27 in the first half and made just 8-of-29 in the second. The Colonels also struggled from the free throw line as they made 10 of their 22 attempts for a 46 percent clip.

Auburn forced Nicholls into 31 fouls, four shy of the team record for most in a game, as they nearly doubled the Colonels in attempts from the charity stripe going 28-for-41. The Tigers converted on 55 percent of their shots in the second half alone en route to getting two 20-point performances from KT Harrell and Chris Denson. Harrell got most of his shots from the field while Denson was 11-14 from the line.

Nicholls got 16 bench points in the first half and went into the halftime break trailing 37-29. At first it seemed like the Colonels would be able to stand toe-to-toe with the Tigers after knotting the game at 13 with 12:46 remaining. A Towers layup with 11:21 cut the Auburn lead to 17-15, and it was the closest the team would get to the home side for the rest of the contest as Auburn made one field goal in the last five minutes and made just four free throws while the Colonels rallied to keep it close.

Nicholls hit four of its six 3-pointers in the second half, as Carpenter scored all nine of his points in the first 20 minutes.

A 9-0 run by the Tigers pushed Auburn out to a 46-29 lead and from that point would do everything possible to get Nicholls in foul trouble as the team finished the night with eight players accumulating three fouls or more. Auburn took its largest lead of the game leading by 27 with 8:24 left, as the Colonels were only able to cut the deficit to just 16 points midway through the second half.

Nicholls will be back in action next week, taking on the North Texas Mean Green in Denton.