Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls sophomore guard T.J. Carpenter scored a team-high 20 points off of the bench to lead three players scoring in double figures, while junior Shane Rillieux dished out a career-high 11 assists as the Colonels blew past the Loyola Wolf Pack 87-62 Saturday evening in Thibodaux.

With the victory the Colonels improve to 2-4 on the season, winning back-to-back games at home after dropping the first four on the road to start the year. Nicholls shot a blistering 50 percent from the field on Saturday, getting 60 points in the paint and 24 points off of 15 Wolf Pack (3-5) turnovers.

In just 23 minutes of work, Carpenter shot lights-out going 7-for-11 from the field with five made 3-pointers, earning 11 of his team-high 20 in the first half alone. The Sibley, La., native finished one made three shy of tying the Loyola group as a whole, who finished 6-for-13 as a team led by McCall Tomeny's game-high 23 points and two 3-pointers.

Jeremy Smith hit each of the first five shots he took on the night, finishing the game with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds two assists, two steals and a block. By halftime, Rillieux had already tied his career best mark of seven assists and earned four more in 31 total minutes of play go to along with his seven points, two steals and zero turnovers.

Dantrell Thomas was the last double-digit scorer for Nicholls on the night, scoring 11 points in the second half after battling through early foul trouble in the first period.

After looking a bit sluggish after the first seven minutes of the game had passed, Nicholls turned on the jets and began to steamroll its way to the win, getting 28 second-chance points and a staggering 45 points off of the bench. Seven players grabbed four or more rebounds on the night as the Colonels outrebounded Loyola 46-33, including grabbing 20 on the offensive end.

Loyola showed a signs of life early as the Wolf Pack hung around with the Colonels after the first 10 minutes of play, tying the game twice and earning their first and only lead of the game after a Tomeny 3-pointer to put the visitors up 9-7 with 15:10 remaining.

It was a short-lived lead for the Wolf Pack as Nicholls got it right back on consecutive Smith jumpers to go up 11-9. Loyola tied it for the final time at 11 on the very next play, and that's the closest the opposing side would get to the Colonels for the rest of the contest as Nicholls went on a 31-11 run that lasted nearly 11 minutes to go up 42-22 with less than two minutes remaining in the first period.

It was at that point that Nicholls only got hot from the field, shooting 53 percent from the field by the end of the first half, but got its bench involved as along with Carpenter the team got five points from Amin Torres and Luke Doyle, four from Travis Julien and two from J'Dante' Frye.
Already leading by 20 points after halftime, the Colonels went on a 15-9 out of the gate in the second half to take their largest lead of the game up 61-35. Thomas had nine of the 15 during that stretch to get into a groove offensively to power the run.

After that, the lead was never in doubt as Loyola would only be able to cut the deficit to just 18 points, although they finished the game outscoring Nicholls 27-26 over the final 12:59.  The Wolf Pack were also unable to shrink the Nicholls lead at the free throw line, as they only shot eight in the second half making four to finish 14-21 at the charity stripe.

Nicholls will be back in action next Saturday night, taking on the University of San Francisco at 9 p.m.