THIBODAUX, La. - Caleb Huffman scored a career-high 31 points to go along with five steals as the Nicholls State University men's basketball team picked up another home victory by defeating Rust College, 85-65, Sunday afternoon on Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium. 

Coming off a 22-point outing at Texas Tech, Huffman led a trio of Colonels in double figures with Latrell Jones adding 16 points and Marek Nelson notching a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Nicholls (4-5) never trailed against Rust and led by as much as 31 before the Bearcats made a late run to bring the deficit to 15 points with over three minutes remaining. The Colonels held Rust to a free throw the rest of the way to improve to 3-0 at home this season. 

Nicholls shot 48 percent as a team and after struggling in the first half from long range, making just 3 of 14 from behind the arc, heated up in the second period to knock down 6 of 11. The Colonels went into the break leading 43-26 and came out to sink three 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of the second. Huffman canned back-to-back triples before Lance-Amir Paul knocked one down from deep for a 30-point lead. 
 

After Jalen White came off the bench for another triple and a 69-40 Colonel lead, the Bearcats kept Nicholls off the scoreboard for three minutes as they put together a 14-0 run. Huffman ended the drought with a 3-pointer and the Colonels never looked back. 

Huffman finished 13 of 18 overall and made 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Nicholls had a huge advantage in rebounding, 46-28, fueled by Nelson's double-double and a game-high 14 by Manny Littles. The Colonels grabbed 17 offensive boards but could only turn that into 11 second-chance points. Nicholls also had a season-high 19 turnovers and did not win the turnover battle for just the second time in the opening month. 

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Nicholls will now open Southland Conference play two weeks earlier than the rest of the league, hosting Southeastern on Thursday, Dec. 15.