Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – After shooting 26 percent in the first half the Nicholls State University men's basketball team showed a little more fight in the second in their game against Southeastern Louisiana Saturday afternoon, but the Lion lead would be too much to overcome as the Colonels fell 73-62 in Stopher Gym.

With the loss the Colonels fall to 6-15 on the year and 5-6 in Southland play, while the Lions improve to 9-12 on the year and 7-4 in league play. The Lions have now won the last three against the Colonels, earning a season sweep over Nicholls for the first time since the 2010 season.

Falling behind by as many as 18 points in the first half, Nicholls dug itself a deep hole after making just eight shots in the first to go into the locker room down 38-22. At one point in the first, the Colonels had more makes at the free throw line than they did from the field as Fred Hunter and Amin Torres each had seven points to lead the team and each of Nicholls' two 3-pointers in the half.

But in the second the Colonels cut the lead to just six points twice with less than 12 minutes remaining in the game, outscoring the Lions 30-20 over the first ten minutes to claw back and make a game of it. Nicholls finished the second half with a 46-percent clip from the field, making 12 shots and four 3-pointers to end the night with a 35 percent mark from the field. Hunter scored 13 of his team-high 20 points in the second half to go along with nine rebounds, and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, followed by Dantrell Thomas who scored all 15 of his points in the second and Amin Torres finishing with 13.

Southeastern Louisiana had three players score in double figures on the day, led by Brandon Fortenberry's 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Fortenberry hit five of SLU's six 3-point shots in the game as the Lions shot 45 percent as a unit, making 50 percent of their shots in the second half. The Lions outrebounded the Colonels 44-32, even as T.J. Carpenter pulled down a career-high 11 defensively for Nicholls.

There were only three ties in the contest, with all of them coming in the first five minutes as the Colonels fell behind 9-4 early after a 5-0 Lion run broke the second tie of the contest. The Colonels got back in it after Hunter scored five-straight to tie the game for the last time at nine. It was at that point when Southeastern went on an 11-0 run spanning 2:42 to jump out to a 20-9 lead with less than ten minutes remaining in the period. It was the largest run of the game for either side, but it wasn't long before the Lions struck again going on a 9-0 run after two made free throws from Shane Rillieux to go up 29-11 with 5:11 left in the half.

The largest run for Nicholls was a 7-0 swing that lasted under a minute, making the score 55-49 in favor of Southeastern. Unfortunately, the Colonel defense couldn't garner any stops down the stretch, as SLU outscored Nicholls 16-7 over the next five-and-a-half minutes to go up 15 points at 71-56 and hold on for the win.

SLU outscored the Colonels 38-22 in the paint and got 19 points off of 12 Nicholls turnovers. Of their 44 rebounds, 15 came on the offensive end which led to the Lions outscoring Nicholls 19-14 in second chance points and got the only fast break points of the game with six. The only area in which the Colonels fared better than the Lions was in bench points, as Torres was the bench scoring with all 13 points to Southeastern's ten.

The Colonels will return to action on Thursday, hosting the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks at 7:30 in Thibodaux. The game will be televised live on ESPN3.