Final Stats KATY, Texas. – For the third time this season, a game between the Nicholls State University men's basketball team and the McNeese State Cowboys came down to the final shot as the Colonels were the ones with the chance to send the game into overtime However, Dantrell Thomas' shot didn't fall as Nicholls lost 62-59 Wednesday in the opening round of the 2013 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

With 5:06 left in the game, McNeese State (14-16) hit a jumper to go up 53-52 for its first lead of the contest putting the Colonels (9-21) on their heels heading into crunch time late in second. The lead didn't last long as two Fred Hunter free throws gave the Colonels a one-point advantage up 54-53. Hunter finished the game with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting, making five of his seven free throws in the second half to go along with his 14 rebounds for his tenth double-double of the season. It was his 16th 20-point game of the season and 33rd of his career.

Unfortunately, Nicholls would not get the lead back after the Cowboys went on a 3-0 run to go back up two points with the Colonels clawing back within one point three times and tying the game twice in the final three minutes. With a chance to tie the game again with 24 seconds left, Shane Rillieux made one of two free throws to make it a one-point game and fouled on the inbound with a one-and-one opportunity, that Dontae Cannon missed but grabbed his own rebound giving McNeese State two more free throws that they converted to go back up three with four ticks left on the clock leading to Thomas' heave at the final second.

Cannon was again the driving force for McNeese State as he had a game-high 23 points on 9-of-17 from the field with two 3-pointers and six rebounds. Kevin Hardy had 11 for McNeese State, and was 5-for-5 from the free throw line as the Cowboys hit 11-of-17 free throws in the second half after just taking two in the first. Nicholls was 17-for-26 from the charity stripe, as Thomas, Hunter, Rillieux and T.J. Carpenter took all of Colonels' free throws on Wednesday.

The Colonels shot 37 percent in the first half, powered by four 3-pointers as Nicholls never trailed in the first 20 minutes, even as McNeese State tied the game four times but couldn't pull ahead. Carpenter had three of the four, with Linden Smith-Hyde converting on the other as the Colonels went up by as many as six points just two minutes in.

Carpenter led all players with 12 points in the first, scoring nine of the first 14 points the Colonels had to open the game drilling consecutive three's to head up the Nicholls offense, while struggling offensively, Hunter still managed to grab 11 boards, six offensively, to go along with six points. As a whole, the Colonels passed it around as team produced ten assists on 12 made shots. Carpenter scored just two more points for the rest of the game finishing with 14 and seven rebounds, with Thomas scoring ten with two assists and two blocks.

McNeese State used its size inside to the tune of 32 points in the paint, while getting 12 points off of 11 Colonel turnovers and 12 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds. Neither bench scored in droves on the day, but the Colonels managed just four points to McNeese's nine, as the Cowboys got eight fast break points to Nicholls' six.