Hot-shooting No. 3 Nicholls controls No. 7 A&M Commerce wire-to-wire in SLC quarterfinal

LAKE CHARLES, La – Third-seeded Nicholls scored on its first possession and stayed in front for the remainder of its 72-51 win over seventh-seeded A&M Commerce Monday night in the second round of the 2024 Jersey Mike’s Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament presented by Explore Louisiana.

The Colonels (19-13) advance to Tuesday’s semifinal round to face two-time defending SLC Tournament champion A&M Corpus Christi. The Lions end their season 13-20.

Nicholls’ Rob Brown III led all scorers with 18 points including a blistering five-of-six from three. Diante Smith totaled 14 points on six-of-12 shooting and Quinn Strander had 11 points on a perfect four-of-four from the field while making all three of his foul shots.

Alonzo Dodd tallied 15 points for Commerce on five-of-eight shooting and Kalen Williams finished with 12.

Nicholls raced out to a 7-0 lead at 18:19 after Brown III connected on the first of his three makes from behind the three-point arc. A Kwo Agwa dunk signified a short flurry from the Lions that made the score 11-10 at 13:24.

But the Colonels closed the half with ferocity, sprinting to a 34-18 lead at 2:43. Smith highlighted that spurt with one of his two threes in the opening frame.

Nicholls’ two leading scorers shot five-of-six from deep in the first half.

The three seed entered the second half with a 13-point edge that sharpened in the early moments of next 20 minutes.

Mekhi Collins skied for an alley-oop dunk during a 16-2 Nicholls run where the Colonels asserted control of the contest and claimed their largest lead of the game (50-26) at 14:43.

The group struck several blows from distance but punctured the Lions’ defense inside with 36 points in the paint.

Nicholls’ efficient attack delivered a 28-of-50 (56%) output from the field while its defense limited Commerce to 18-of-57 shooting. That efficiency translated to the Colonel’s eight-of-14 clip from three.

Dodd rallied the Lions with an 8-0 run in the midway through the second half but Brown III hit another three-pointer that quelled the rally at 10:49 and Commerce would not cut into the deficit any further.

The Colonels paced the Lions until to the finish and clinched their first appearance in the SLC semifinals since 2022.