Thibodaux, La. – After completing the first half of league play in prime position to make a run heading into March, the Nicholls men's basketball team opens a crucial four-game road stretch against conference foes on Thursday night, taking on reigning regular season champ and league-leader Stephen F. Austin at 8 p.m. in Nacogdoches.
 
The Colonel Countdown pregame show will begin 15 minutes prior to tip off against the Colonels and Lumberjacks on the all-new ESPN 100.3 FM and KLEB 1600 AM locally in Thibodaux and online. Links to live stats provided by Stephen F. Austin will be on the home page at GeauxColonels.com.
 
Winners of their last three for the second time this season, the Colonels ended the first half of Southland Conference play with a 10-8 overall record and 7-2 league mark, sitting two games behind the Lumberjacks for first place in the conference. Nicholls is above .500 this far into the season for the first time since the 2010-11 season, winners of seven of their last 10 and 10 of the last 14 contests. With 10 wins, the team has eclipsed its win total from all of last season, earning double digit wins for the eighth time under head coach J.P. Piper and first time since the 2011-12 season.
 
Nicholls is coming off of two huge wins last weekend, avoiding the letdown after the overtime win over Oral Roberts last Thursday by holding off the Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday afternoon. The wins pushed the Colonels to 7-1 at home this season, as the squad is outscoring opponents by more than six points when played in the friendly confines of Stopher Gym. Nicholls will have an opportunity over the next two weeks to improve its road record, with just three wins to its credit after playing six of the last nine in Thibodaux.
 
The one area that the Colonels used to its benefit to pull away from the Bears for good was its clutch free throw shooting. At one point having the worst free throw percentage in the country, Nicholls has righted the ship at the line, making 21-of-23 at the charity stripe for a season-high 91.3 percentage. At one point, Nicholls had converted 20 consecutive free throws against UCA, improving to 4-0 when making 21 or more free throws in a contest.
 
Nicholls' penchant for holding on to the ball and converting on those opportunities also played a big factor, as the Colonels turned the ball over just seven times and turned nine Central Arkansas turnovers into 12 points. The squad is 18^th in the nation right now in fewest turnovers, with just 176 as a group, and 8-2 when committing less than the opposition. That play, along with a defense that held an opponent to under 70 points for the sixth time this season, combined to aid Nicholls in the victory.
 
After averaging 23.5 points and 7.5 rebounds over the two games, senior guard Dantrell Thomas was named the Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday, the first for any Colonel this season. After netting career bests with 28 points and 15 made free throws against the Golden Eagles, Thomas earned his second double-double in three games against Central Arkansas, scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. It was the third double-double of his career, as he also shot 88 percent from the free throw line, making 22 of 25 attempts.
 
One of the noted returns this season as of late has been the return of Sam McBeath. The redshirt sophomore who has battled numerous injuries to make his return to the court turned in his best performance as a Colonel, pouring in a team-high 20 points on career-best eight makes from the field. The 20 points was a career high for the Australia product, who seems to have a penchant for playing well against the Bears, as he scored 19 against them in 2012 and was his previous career high.  
 
Another player that has taken his game to another level has been Jeremy Smith. Smith has scored in double figures in each of the last four games, and is hitting 56.1 percent of his shots from the field. That mark not only leads the team and is fifth in the conference, but it is also 31^st in the nation in the category as the redshirt senior is averaging a career-high 13.4 points per game. The Colonels are also 5-2 when he scores 16 points or more in a game this year.
 
Thursday's game will be one of the stiffest tests the team has faced since the non-conference season ended, as the Lumberjacks are rated highly in the College Insider mid-major poll and receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. SFA has won 17-straight at 20-2 and remain undefeated in the Southland with a 9-0 record. The Lumberjacks are doing all of this under first-year head coach Brad Underwood, who took over after Danny Kaspar left to take the top job at Texas State, the same team that lost to this year's Lumberjack team earlier in the season.
 
Jacob Parker leads five players who all average double figure points for SFA, as he is scoring over 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds per game. Stephen F. Austin as a group is averaging just 74 points per game, but holding teams to less than 60 which is in the top 25 in the country. The Colonels are hoping to snap a five-game losing streak to SFA, which dates back to the 2010 season.
 
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: ESPN 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.SFAJacks.com