THIBODAUX, La. - Trae English scored 20 points to lead a trio of Colonels in double figures but a late surge fell short as the Nicholls State University men's basketball team was defeated by McNeese, 75-65, on Monday night on Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium.

With the loss, Nicholls (13-18, 12-10 SLC) will be the No. 6 seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament in Lake Charles and takes on No. 7 Northwestern State on Sunday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The Colonels needed a victory over McNeese (26-5, 19-3 SLC) to stay in a hunt for a bye but the Cowboys led 40-31 at the break and built a 14-point lead with 15 minutes to go. 

Nicholls then mounted its comeback by catching fire from three. Jaylen Searles, who had 12 points, canned two triples and English added one. Searles followed with a bounce pass through the defense and Grant Sanders slammed it home, getting the crowd out of their seats as the Colonels cut the deficit to 52-46. 

McNeese weathered the storm to push the lead back to nine, but Sincere Malone answered with two free throws, English drilled another three, and two more Malone free throws made it 57-55. 

Larry Johnson, who had a game-high 25 points for McNeese, scored two of them with a shot-clock buzzer beater out of a timeout. With 7:02 remaining, Malone scored inside again to reach double figures with 10 points but the offense would go cold the rest of the way.

Nicholls was just 1 of 10 from the field to close out the game as McNeese secured the season sweep. 

The teams headed into the matchup ranked No. 1 and 2 in the Southland in steals, and McNeese remained the leader with 12 steals while not allowing one for the Colonels. Tyshawn Archie had six swipes to go along with 18 points. While Nicholls dominated in rebounding with a 45-29 advantage thanks to a career-high 14 by Jalin Rice, McNeese had 26 points off turnovers versus just six for the Colonels.

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Nicholls will face Northwestern State on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Lake Charles. The Colonels swept the season series, winning the two games by a combined five points. To purchase tickets, visit southland.org/tickets.