Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – With less than 10 seconds left in regulation and the game tied at 64, Nicholls redshirt senior guard Pedro Maciel drove strong to the hoop before dishing off the ball to a waiting Sam McBeath under the basket for the game-winning layup with two seconds remaining to give the Colonels a thrilling 66-64 win over the Houston Baptist Huskies Thursday night in Thibodaux.

After holding the lead for nearly two-thirds of the contest, the Huskies (4-13, 1-4 SLC) capped a 20-5 run that spanned five minutes and 51 seconds off of the clock more than midway through the second half on an Alex Fountain jumper to give HBU its first lead of the game with 5:35 left in the contest up 58-57. The two teams would tie the contest three times in the final five minutes, with the lead switching hands four times during this stretch, as Nicholls (7-7, 4-1) outscored the Huskies 9-6 in crunch time to seal the victory.

T.J. Carpenter scored 10 of his team-leading 13 points in the second half with three 3-pointers made, pulling down six rebounds to tie for the game high in 26 minutes of action. Carpenter was followed by Shane Rillieux as the only two Nicholls players to finish the night scoring in double figures, scoring all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes, going 4-for-7 at the free throw line. Rillieux was 3-for-4 at the charity stripe in the final 3:44, as he was the only Colonel to take more than two on the night.

All 10 Nicholls players that saw floor time on the night scored, giving the Colonels balance offensively, as all five starters finished with at least five points. Although the Huskies' bench outscored the Colonels 33-21, the team got a season-high seven points from Pedro Maciel, six points from Luke Doyle and four points from Amin Torres.

Houston Baptist shot 51.2 percent in the game, on 22-of-43 from the field, but the Huskies were unable to match the long-range shooting of the Colonels, making just one 3-pointer late in the second half while Nicholls had seven on 24 attempts. Nicholls was also able to take 15 more shots than HBU on the evening, going 23-for-58, while having one of its better nights from the charity stripe with a 72 percent clip on 13-for-18 from the line.

After a pretty crisp first half of play, the two sides combined for 25 turnovers and 26 fouls, but it was the Colonels who made the most of those miscues, scoring 30 points off of 22 HBU turnovers, while assisting on 12 of their 23 made shots during the game.

With its first-half lead shaved to just a single point with 4:10 remaining in the opening stanza, McBeath exploded scored six consecutive points with a 3-pointer, layup and free throw to power a 9-2 Colonel run to give Nicholls a 33-25 lead. McBeath finished the night with eight points and six rebounds with an assist, block and two steals.

Nicholls began the half with Jeremy Smith scoring all five of his points in the game in the first two minutes, as the Colonels got out to a 10-2 lead four minutes in after a Dantrell Thomas jumper and Carpenter three. Thomas eventually fouled out of the game, finishing with just seven points, snapping his streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games at nine.

The Huskies retaliated by outscoring the Colonels 21-14 over the course of 11 minutes to pull within one, going into halftime trailing the Colonels 33-29 after closing the first with a 6-3 run.

However, Nicholls went on to take its biggest lead of the game three minutes into the second half as Carpenter and Rillieux took over to give the Colonels a 14-point, 43-29 advantage on a 10-0 swing to put the home side up big.

It seemed like Nicholls would be able to maintain a big enough lead to hold off HBU for the rest of the period, but the scoring drought for the Colonels allowed the Huskies to get back into the game and eventually take the lead. HBU made exactly 11 field goals in both halves, but did a lot of damage at the free throw line, going making 12 of their 19 total free throws in the second half.

The game changed hands in the next two possessions as Carpenter drilled two free throws, giving Nicholls the lead back at 59-58. A Tyler Russell jumper tilted the momentum again giving HBU a one-point advantage up 60-59.

With a little less than four minutes left, Rillieux got fouled and went to the line for two. The junior sank both to give Nicholls the lead back at 61-60. A missed layup by HBU began a stalemate draw between the two groups that featured three missed shots and five turnovers, before Maciel drove through the heart of the lane for a layup to extend the Nicholls lead to three points, 63-60.

Rillieux was fouled again, this time making one of two opportunities at the line to make it a four-point game with 38 seconds left. A McBeath foul sent Rob Lewis to the line for two free throws, making both to give Lewis his game leading 18 points of the night. After another Nicholls turnover, Russell, who hit the game winner against Northwestern State last weekend, made another miracle shot to tie the game at 64, leaving enough time for Nicholls to produce the game winning play in the end.

The Colonels will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at 3:30 p.m. in Thibodaux.