Nicholls dominates in regular season finale at SLU

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men’s basketball team struggled to get its shot going, especially in the second half, falling in the regular season finale 80-54 to the Nicholls Colonels Thursday night at the Pride Roofing University Center.

Nicholls (18-13, 13-5 SLC) jumped out to an early six-point advantage as a three-pointer put the Colonels up 8-2 two minutes into the contest. Southeastern (15-16, 10-8 SLC) started its lone push of the game two possessions later as Roger McFarlane tapped back in a missed shot, starting a 7-1 Lions run which he also finished with a three-pointer to tie the score for the only time on the evening at 9-9 with 16:15 remaining in the period. Nicholls responded with a 9-2 run to take an 18-11 lead and would not lose the lead again.

The Lions tried to keep it close, scoring six of the next eight points to get the deficit down to three at 20-17 after Avery Wilson hit a jumper with just less than 11 minutes left. But the Colonels scored the next eight points to get their first double digit lead of the contest at 28-17 with 9:10 left in the half.

Nick Caldwell quickly took five points off of that deficit as he hit a pair of technical free throws and then sank a three-pointer on the same possession for a five-point possession to make it a six-point game. Nicholls pushed its lead back up to 10 at 32-22 before a McFarlane three and a layup by Alec Woodard sandwiched around a Colonels made free throw to cut the deficit back down to six points at 33-27 with 7:10 left before the break.

Nicholls used a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the period at 42-29 with 4:40 to go. SLU scored five of the last seven points of the period with Roscoe Eastmond’s three with 15 seconds left cutting the deficit down to 10 at 44-34 at the break.

The first five minutes of the second half proved to be a drought too dry to overcome for the Lions as Nicholls scored the first 12 points of the period to blow the lead open to 22 points at 56-34 before Wilson hit a three to finally break the cap on the Southeastern basket. Hopes for that three to start a big SLU run were quickly dashed as the Colonels made a 15-7 run to push the Nicholls lead up to 71-44 with 6:45 remaining.

The largest margin of the game came with 2:20 to go with Nicholls leading 77.49, only to be matched after the two teams traded threes for an 80-52 score with 1:40 left and Nicholls closed it out from there.

McFarlane led the Lions with 12 points as he hit four buckets, two from deep, while grabbing six rebounds. Wilson was the only other Lion to score in double figure in the contest, hitting four of his seven shot attempts, including one-of-three from three, to finish with 10 points. He also grabbed four rebounds and had a steal. Eastmond finished with three assists, making him just the second Lion in program history to accumulate 200 assists in a single season, now sitting at 201.

After shooting a modest 41.4% in the first half, Southeastern struggled in the last 20 minutes, hitting just 27.3% from the field in the last 20 minutes to finish at 35.3% overall in the contest. The struggles were just at tough from deep where SLU hit 26.1% from beyond the arc.

Turnovers were also a hindrance as 15 Lion miscues turned into 21 points off of them for Nicholls.

The Colonels hit 51.7% in the first half, and only slowed down a bit to 41.7% in the second half to finish the game at 46.2% shooting overall. Nicholls also hit 35.3% from above the arc in the contest while also taking care of the ball, turning it over seven times which resulted in just six SLU points.

With the regular season now behind them, the Lions turn their attention to the task of trying to win four games in four days to become conference champions at the 2024 Jersey Mike’s Southland Conference Basketball Championships presented by Explore Louisiana, where Southeastern enters as the five-seed. Nicholls clinched the three-seed with the win.

The first step of the Lions’ task takes place on Sunday as SLU takes on the tournament’s eight-seed, New Orleans, in the first round. Tip-off of Sunday’s first round game against the Privateers (9-22, 4-14 SLC) is set for 5 p.m. in the Legacy Center in Lake Charles.

Sunday’s first round game will be live streamed on ESPN+ while a radio broadcast will be available, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide on LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or you can listen to the game on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will also be available through the Southland Conference.