THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University men's basketball team defended its Southland Conference regular season title with a 92-85 victory over New Orleans Saturday evening on Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium.
It a true winner-take-all matchup between the Southland's top two teams in the standings, Nicholls (21-10, 11-3 SLC) used a career-high 36-point outing by
Ty Gordon to secure a second consecutive outright regular season title. The Colonels have won three three of the last five championships and now have five Southland regular season titles all-time.
Nicholls only trailed once which came in the opening minutes and enjoyed a double-digit lead on several occasions, but had to withstand a late push by New Orleans (17-12, 10-4 SLC). The Privateers trimmed a seven-point deficit to one before
Devante Carter hit a clutch layup and followed with a drawn charge with five minutes to go to spark a game-sealing run.
Gordon followed with a pair of free throws then
Latrell Jones had the block of the game, swatting away a layup attempt and it quickly turned into a Gordon layup. The Colonel defense forced a shot-clock violation, then picked up a turnover in the backcourt and Jones found Gordon open in the corner for a 3-pointer, pushing the lead back to double figures at 76-66.
New Orleans fouled the rest of the way but the Colonels team connected on 14 of 18 at the line down the stretch after making just 2 of 10 in the first half.
Gordon's 36 points was a new career-high and it was his fourth 30-point game in the last six outings. He made 12 of 24 from the field and 7 of 17 from 3-point range. He upped his total 3-pointers made to 99 on the season, setting a new program single-season record.
UNO's Derek St. Hilaire finished with 26 points but most of his damage came at the free throw line where he made 13 of 15. The Nicholls defense held him to 6 of 21 from the field as the Privateers shot 40.6 percent for the game.
Nicholls had a strong game offensively, shooting 53.4 percent in the victory. Jones continued his stellar play of late, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds, and
Manny Littles notched his team-best seventh double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Carter also scored in double figures with 13 points and three assists.
The Colonels had a five-point edge at the half and led by as much as 13. Littles slammed one down on a pass from Jones to give Nicholls a 37-24 lead. The first double-figure advantage for the Red and Gray after the break came on a
Ryan Maxwell putback before the under 16 timeout.
For UNO, Troy Green also scored in double figures with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Tyson Jackson added 15 points on 6 of 8 from the field.
UP NEXT
Nicholls will head to Katy, Texas for the Southland Conference Tournament. As the No. 1 seed, the Colonels will have a double bye into the semifinal round and will play their first game at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 11. More tournament info can be found
here.
