Final Stats  THIBODAUX, La. – The final home game in Stopher Gym for the 2012-13 season for the Nicholls State University men's basketball team couldn't be contained to just 40 minutes as double overtime was needed to decide a winner, as the Colonels fell on a last-second 3-pointer to the Cowboys 91-88 Saturday evening in Thibodaux.

Although the Colonels fell to 9-20 on the season and 8-10 in league play, Nicholls will go into next week's Southland Conference tournament as the fifth seed after Sam Houston State lost earlier in the day to Northwestern State 84-73, setting up a rematch against the Cowboys on Wednesday in Katy.

Trailing 86-81 after a 5-0 run by McNeese State with less than three minutes remaining in the game, Amin Torres got fouled on a made basket and drained the subsequent free throw to kick start a five-point swing to tie the game as T.J. Carpenter got a layup to knot the game back up with 1:04 left.

The game probably wouldn't have gone to overtime if not for the play of Fred Hunter in his final home game of his career, as he scored the final eight Nicholls points in the second half which gave Nicholls a two-point lead with 20 seconds left before the Cowboys got the first of their two buzzer-beaters on the night to send the game into the first overtime session. Hunter scored a team-high 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, with Dantrell Thomas scoring 16 and Torres with 13 off of the bench.

The Colonels flirted with the win in each of the final three periods of the contest, holding the lead in the final minute before McNeese State found a way each time to come back. At the end of regulation, Deshadrick Guidry got a putback layup to send the game into the first overtime, while Dontae Cannon hit three 3-pointers for nine of the Cowboys' 12 points in the second including the game-tying shot with 38 second left. But Cannon saved his best for the final minute as he sank two free throws to make the game 88-86, but after a Thomas layup tied the game for the 18th time with 11 seconds left, Cannon took an off-balance desperation three that went in giving the Cowboys the win.

Guidry led all players with 34 points on 13-of-16 from the field, followed by Cannon with 20, Adrian Fields with 15 and Kevin Hardy with ten. McNeese State shot 51 percent in the game to Nicholls' 43 percent as both teams made seven shots in the two overtimes, with the Cowboys hitting four 3-pointers while the Colonels missed the only one they took. McNeese hit 11 total 3-pointers on Saturday, with Guidry and Cannon having ten.

Nicholls attacked McNeese State, especially inside as the Colonels outscored the Cowboys 52-28 in the paint and lived at the free throw line as Nicholls converted 22-of-31 opportunities at the charity stripe with Hunter leading at the line going 12-for-19. The team was a perfect 5-for-5 in overtime, as the Cowboys took just four in the first half, nine in the second and six combined in overtime to finish 12-for-19.

The Colonels finally outrebounded its first opponent in the last four games, grabbing 42 with 21 coming offensively as Nicholls was able to outscore the Cowboys 21-11 in second chance points, along with getting 28 points off of the bench to McNeese State's 19.