Final Stats NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team had no trouble scoring on Saturday afternoon after getting a career-high tying 28 points and 10 rebounds from senior guard Dantrell Thomas, but the Colonel defense was unable to hold a high-powered offense in check as the Northwestern State Demons scored over 40 points in each quarter to win 86-73 in Prather Coliseum.

Thomas, the game's leading scorer, earned 16 of his 28 in the second half alone, finishing the afternoon shooting 7-of-12 from the field, and made 14-of-16 free throws, coming one shy of tying his career high in makes from the charity stripe. It was the third double-double in the last five games for the senior guard, with six 20 point games this season.

Down by 10 points with 13:03 left in the second period, Nicholls (10-10, 7-4 SLC) cut the deficit to just four after a six-point run after a layup by Thomas, followed by a deuce and 3-pointer by Jeremy Smith to make it 63-59. Although the Colonels would get that close, the Demons pulled away with an 8-0 run, to go up 71-59.

However, Ja'Dante' Frye scored four of his eight points off of the bench during a 12-3 run by Nicholls getting a 3-pointer and jumper from Sam McBeath and three points from Thomas to put some fear into the Demons by making it a 74-71 game with 3:34 left in regulation. However, the Colonels managed just two more points for the rest of the game, as Northwestern State scored 12 points in the final 2:45 to pull away for good.

The two teams combined to take 162 shots in the game, as Northwestern state got up nine more shots in the contest shooting 3 percent in the first half with 17 makes, cooling off a bit in the second, converting on 12 shots for a 40 percent clip. The Demons had three of their starters score in double figures, but it was DeQuan Hicks who came off of the bench to score 17on 5-of-12 shooting.

T.J. Carpenter was the only other Nicholls player to score in double figures for the Colonels, sinking two 3-pointers and going 4-of-8 from the free throw line. Frye, McBeath and Smith each had eight for Nicholls, with Frye grabbing six boards off the pine. Shane Rillieux dished out a team-high five assists, and grabbed four rebounds.

Nicholls will be back in action on Thursday night, taking on the New Orleans Privateers at the Lakefront Arena.