Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – A 19-0 run in the first half allowed the Nicholls State University men's basketball team to gain a big first half lead which grew to as many as 37 points in the second as the Colonels cruised to a 90-63 win over the Lamar Cardinals Thursday night in Stopher Gym.

With the win the Colonels improve to 9-19 on the season and 8-9 in Southland Conference play, improving the team's record to 5-4 at home this season. Lamar drops its seventh consecutive game and falls to 3-27 on the year and 1-16 in league play. By virtue of Southeastern Louisiana's win over McNeese State on Thursday, Nicholls now will aim for the fifth seed in the league tournament with a win over the Cowboys on Saturday.

The Colonels shot 58 percent in the game and sunk 36 baskets on the night, led by Fred Hunter's game-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, with seven rebounds, four steals and four assists in just 30 minutes of action. Dantrell Thomas scored 21, grabbing six boards with four assists, going a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line, followed by JaMarkus Horace's 16 on a season-high eight made field goals.

By the end of the first half, seven different Nicholls players had scored a bucket or more through just the first 20 minutes, with four players having eight or more points as the Colonels shot nearly 60 percent from the field. Hunter started off the game making a wide open 3-pointer to give Nicholls the first salvo of the contest, as Nicholls finished 7-for-17 from behind the arc, paced by T.J. Carpenter who broke out of his shooting slump making four to finish with 14 points on the night.

The Cardinals didn't buckle early after it seemed as if the Colonels were off to one of their best first half performances in the last few games, trading shots with the team through the first ten minutes of the opening half. Down 18-17 after two Stan Brown free throws, Nicholls kicked its offense into high gear and went on a blistering 19-0 run spanning the next 5:23 to go up 37-17, eventually outscoring the Cardinals 29-4 to go into the halftime break leading 47-21.

The 19-point swing was the first of two double-digit scoring runs Nicholls went on, as the squad posted an 11-0 run over 2:11 of the end of the first half and start of the second.

Lamar regrouped in the second half to score 42 points on 16-of-35 from the field, but the defense for the Cardinals still allowed Nicholls to score 43 points on 17 made shots, turning over the ball 20 times to give the Colonels a 27-6 advantage in points off of turnovers. With five minutes left in the game, Nicholls was up 83-46 before the Cardinals outscored the Colonels 17-7 to close out the game with the 90-63 final.

Nicholls did the bulk of its damage in the paint, outscoring Lamar 56-36 in the lane during the game, getting 11 second chance points on seven offensive rebounds. The Colonels also turned the tables on Lamar in the speed game, getting 18 fast break points to just six for the Cardinals, with Horace and Thomas producing four of the five total dunks on the night.

Amin Torres once again came off the bench to lead the club, hitting all four of his shots of the game in the first half to finish with eight points, getting three's from Pedro Maciel and Linden Smith-Hyde to aid in the 16-14 advantage in bench points.

Nicholls closes out the regular season on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. against the Cowboys. It will also mark the final home game in the careers of Fred Hunter and Linden Smith-Hyde.