Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – After holding the lead for a good chunk of the contest, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team had to fight back late after Northwestern State took the lead in the final minutes on Saturday, but the Demons got key turnovers and baskets when it counted to defeat Nicholls 84-79 in Stopher Gym on Saturday.

The loss for Nicholls drops the team to 6-17 on the year and 5-8 in league play, while Northwestern State moves into a tie for first place with a 12-2 mark in league play with SFA's loss to Southeastern on Saturday and a 18-6 overall record. The loss was the fifth-straight for the Colonels and third consecutive one at home falling to 4-4 in games in Thibodaux.

Nicholls had three players finish in double figures on the night, but the biggest shots on the day came from Linden Smith-Hyde who tied the game twice with less than three minutes left in the second half to keep the Colonels in it, tying the contest at 66 after Northwestern State took its first lead since the 8:14 mark of the first half, and knotted the contest again with the two teams tied at 74. Fred Hunter secured his seventh double-double of the season with a game-high 24 points, 13 coming in the second half, and ten rebounds, while Dantrell Smith had 22 and eight boards.

The lead changed hands seven times during the contest with just four ties, as the Colonels tied the game for the final time on two Hunter free throws to pit the game at 76-all with 1:35 remaining. Unfortunately, turnovers and fouls played a big role in the game's ending as the Colonels turned the ball over three times in the final 1:15 with Northwestern State in the double bonus to allow the Demons to put the game away for good. With just seven turnovers to NSU's 12 in the first half, the Colonels finished the night turning the ball over 21 times which the Demons turned into 29 points.

After going into the locker room with a 36-27 lead at halftime, the Colonels seemed poised to hold the Demons under their average of 84 for the season by the end of the night, shooting 41 percent and getting to the line ten times making eight while Northwestern State was 2-for-3. Although the visitors scored six of the first eight points to start the second half, Nicholls went on an 8-0 run of their own to take its largest lead of the game at 13 points up 46-33.

Slowly from that point on, Northwestern State began to chip away at the Nicholls lead and over the course of nearly eight minutes went on a 17-7 run to come within a single point with eight minutes left trailing 53-52. Two runs for the Demons during that period took less than two minutes, with a 7-0 run taking up just 1:58, with a 5-0 run taking just 54 seconds. By the end of the second, Northwestern State shot 61 percent in the final half and was 19-for-24 at the charity stripe, and had just one 3-pointer in the entire game.

Without the services of T.J. Carpenter for the second-straight night and Shane Rillieux who had started every game since joining the Colonels, 52 in all, out after sustaining a head injury on Thursday, Nicholls was running low on bodies and played just four players off of the bench due to both injuries and starters in foul trouble. Jeremy Smith, who is still battling flu-like symptoms, scored 10 of Nicholls' 12 points in reserve time, as compared to the Demons who rotate five players in seemingly every few minutes who scored 53. Of their four players in double-digits, three all came in off of the bench.

The Colonels will be back in action on Tuesday night, traveling to take on the Lamar Cardinals in Beaumont.