Thibodaux, La. – The Nicholls men's basketball teams closes out a stretch of three games in six days on Tuesday night, taking on the McNeese State Cowboys at 8 p.m. at the Lake Charles Civic Center.
 
Comcast SportsNet Houston will televise Tuesday night's tilt against the two teams, with Brett Dolan as lead commentator and John Lucas providing analysis. CSNHouston.com will have a live stream of the game online, while the Colonel Countdown pregame show will begin 15 minutes prior to tip off against the Colonels and Cowboys on the all-new ESPN 100.3 FM and KLEB 1600 AM locally in Thibodaux. Links to live stats provided by McNeese State will be on the home page at GeauxColonels.com.
 
For the first time this season, the Colonels suffered a defeat on their home floor, falling to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 70-67 Saturday evening in Stopher Gym. Nicholls, who had won five-straight at home, was unable to force the contest into overtime as a desperation 3-pointer from Jeremy Smith in the final seconds rattled out and dropped the Colonels to 7-8 on the season and 4-2 in league play, setting up another key showdown just days later with the Cowboys, as both are tied for fifth place in the conference standings.
 
Although the Colonels have won seven of their last 11 contests, the team has dropped two of their last three after falling to Sam Houston State two weeks ago when coupled with the loss on Saturday. Having lived on the edge since conference play began, Nicholls dropped its first game to an opponent by five points or less, sitting at 4-1 in games decided by many. After the two sides went into the halftime break tied at 39, the Islanders outscored Nicholls 31-28 in the second period, as AMCC was the fifth team since league play began that has outscored the Colonels in the second half.
 
Nicholls fell for the first time this season when outshooting an opponent, snapping a string of six-consecutive wins when doing so, even as the Colonels drilled eight 3-pointers on the night on 24 attempts and had a 45 percent night shooting from the floor. Still, the Islanders went 20-of-25 at the free throw line and got 36 points from their bench to hold off the home side late.
 
Even in the loss, Nicholls got a solid effort from the starting five, as T.J. Carpenter has been in the starting lineup since league play began, while Sam McBeath has started the last two against league competition, as all five had no less than nine points against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
 
The day belonged to Jeremy Smith, who tied his season-high of 17 points on an amazing 8-for-10 from the floor to lead all players. Smith, who scored a combined 12 points in the previous two games, is scoring 11.8 points per game this season, well above his career average of 7.3. The 80 percent day from the floor was his highest total of the season, as he now hitting 53 percent of the shots he's taken in his career.
 
Dantrell Thomas returned to form a bit after having his double-digit scoring streak snapped against Houston Baptist, scoring 11 points with seven rebounds against the Islanders and making seven of eight free throws. With those 11, the senior from Many, La., is now 26 points away from becoming the 24^th player in Nichols history to reach 1,000 in his career. He still leads the team in scoring, averaging over 14 points per game, while pulling down nearly five boards per outing.
 
Carpenter scored in double figures for the third consecutive game last Saturday, sinking three 3-pointers in a game for the seventh time this season. Known for his sharpshooting ability, the sophomore has picked up his rebounding game as of late, grabbing five or more rebounds in four of the last five contests.
 
McNeese State enters the game 6-12 on the season and 4-2 in league play, following the same narrative as the Colonels in defeating HBU while falling to AMCC to split their two home games. The Cowboys are still 4-1 in Lake Charles contests, as the Cowboys got a thrilling win over the Huskies on a dunk by Kevin Hardy to break a 68-all tie in the final seconds. Ledrick Eackles leads McNeese in scoring, averaging 15.2 points per game with three 20-point scoring outputs on the year.
 
The rivalry between the two was at its best last season, as the three games the two squad's played over the course of the year was decided by a total of seven points. McNeese State won the final two, a double-overtime thriller 91-88 in Thibodaux, setting up a rematch a few days  later in the opening round of the league tournament in Katy which they won 62-59. The Cowboys own the rivalry overall, holding a 49-32 advantage in all-time meetings.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: CSN Houston
Broadcast Team: Brett Dolan (play-by-play), John Lucas (analyst)
Radio: ESPN 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.McNeeseSports.com