THIBODAUX, La. - Despite playing from behind for the majority of the night, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team had chances to tie or take the lead in the final minutes against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but the Colonels came up empty as the Islanders picked up a season sweep with a 78-74 victory Thursday night on Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium.
Lance-Amir Paul, who finished with a season-high 20 points for the Colonels, drove and scored with four minutes remaining to trim the deficit to 68-66. After a stop, Nicholls turned the ball over and Trevian Tennyson drained a big 3-pointer on the next possession to put the Islanders back up five.
Down six with 90 seconds to go,
Caleb Huffman cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer and the Colonels got the ball back on a
Manny Littles block. Huffman launched another 3 and nearly banked it in, but the Islanders secured the rebound. As one of the nation's best free throw shooting teams, AMCC sank five down the stretch to seal the victory.
The loss snapped a 13-game home winning streak for Nicholls, which slid to 13-12 overall and 8-5 in the Southland. The setback also put the Colonels two games back in the loss column behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-9, 11-3 SLC) and Northwestern State.
Paul finished 6 of 12 from the field off the bench for his sixth double-figure outing of the season. Huffman and
Latrell Jones scored 10 points a piece, but each shot 4 of 13 for the game.
Edoardo Del Cadia also came off the bench for 10 points while Littles ended the night with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Terrion Murdix led AMCC with 25 points and Tennyson canned 5 of 7 from 3-point range and totaled 17 points.
Nicholls shot 40.6 percent for the game and 9 of 28 from behind the arc. The Islanders shot an identical 45.5 percent from the field and 3-point range, making 10 3-balls on the night.
The Colonels only led twice early on, with the last coming at 8-7 after a
Ryan Maxwell 3-pointer. Tennyson answered with back-to-back triples to spark a 10-0 Islander run.
Nicholls eventually tied it at 26-26 on a
Micah Thomas jumper. However, the Islander went into the intermission with a 37-33 lead.
In the second half, the Islander lead never reached double figures but they still managed to keep Nicholls at bay.
UP NEXT
Nicholls continues its homestand with a rematch against UIW on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
