THIBODAUX, La. - Season highs in scoring by Jamal West Jr. and Michael Gray Jr. were not enough as the Nicholls State University men's basketball team suffered its first home loss in league play, falling 78-74 to Lamar on Monday afternoon inside Stopher Gymnasium.

West scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half to help Nicholls to a 37-35 lead. However, Lamar (10-9, 5-3 SLC) used a 7-0 run to start the second stanza to take the lead and then broke a 64-all tie late to go up for good to claim a third straight win in the series.

Nicholls (11-8, 5-3 SLC) had three players score in double figures with Gray adding 13 of his 19 points in the second half, while Byron Ireland totaled 15 points. Despite Gray's 5-for-8 showing from three-point range, the Colonels struggled as a team as the rest of the lineup made just 2 of 15. Lamar also limited Nicholls to 37 percent from the field. 

LU jumped out to a 13-7 advantage before the Colonels answered with a quick seven points, taking a one-point lead on a Jaylen Searles dunk. For the rest of the half, neither team led by more than four points.

Andrew Holifield sparks LU's early second-half spurt with a three-pointer. The Cardinals kept the lead until Gray caught fire, hitting three consecutive triples to put Nicholls up 51-47 with 13:27 remaining. 

The visitors used the three-ball to regain the lead as Cody Pennebaker cut the deficit to one with a triple, then put LU on top, 64-62, with another. The Cardinal defense then came up big with the game knotted at 64 when Adam Hamilton swatted away consecutive shots and scored inside on the other end.

Leading by four with two minutes to go, Lamar answered each Nicholls' score with free throws, making 10 of 12 down the stretch to maintain their advantage and escape with the win.

West finished with a double-double (10 rebounds) and did most of his scoring at the free throw line, making 14 of 20. Nicholls shot 61 percent from the stripe while Lamar made 19 of 26 for 73 percent. 

Ja'Sean Jackson scored 18 points for the Cardinals, who had five players reach double figures.

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Nicholls will head to Texas next week for matchups with A&M-Corpus Christi (Jan. 25) and UTRGV (Jan. 27).