In a game that started with a shoving match at mid-court before tip-off between the two teams, the No. 6 seed Northwestern State Demons muscled their way to a 68-61 victory over No. 2 seed Nicholls in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament Tuesday night in Stopher Gym. With the loss the Colonels finished the year at 14-14 overall and 12-9 in the SLC.
“I didn’t think it (the season) would end this way,” Nicholls head coach Rickey Broussard said. “We had an up and down season, but I felt like we were playing our best ball at the end of the regular season. “This is a good group of seniors and I hate to see them not win a conference championship.”
This game marked the third time this season the teams met, with the Colonels winning both regular season contests.
Nicholls was hampered by 26 turnovers, compared to 12 by the Demons, and shot 59 percent from the free-throw line.
“The turnovers were the difference in the game and free throw shooting has been our Achilles heel the entire year,” Broussard said.
The Colonels were without the services of Chris Bacon for most of the first half after he picked up two early fouls. He entered the game averaging 15.9 points per contest. Nicholls’ leading scorer Arthur Haralson fouled out of the game with 6:30 left in regulation.
After the Colonels led by as much as five in the second half, Northwestern State tied the game at 51-51 at the 6:59 mark on a pair of free throws by Jerrold McRae.
The Demons added a basket, but Nicholls tied the game at 53-53 on a pair of free throws by Bacon.
With 4:24 left in regulation Northwestern State took its final lead on a 3-pointer by Michael Byers-Dawson.
Nicholls was able to get the Demon lead down to four at 65-61 with 22 seconds to go but that would be as close as the Colonels could get.
“We played with a lot of heart and fire,” Demon head coach Mike McConathy said. “We came out, and stayed with what we were trying to do against a very well-coached team.”
The two teams fought back-and-forth in the first half as a free throw by Colonel Marlon Green proved to be the last point of the opening period and tied the game at 29-29. The game was tied six times in the first half and three times in the second half.
Nicholls got 13 points each from Haralson, Bacon and Earnest Porter, while Green added nine.
The game was the last as Colonels for Haralson, Green, Bacon and Nehemiah Daniels who are all seniors.
Nicholls 75 Southwest Texas 71
The Colonels finished the regular season with a four-point SLC road win over Southwest Texas Saturday night that gave Nicholls a share of second place to end the regular season.
The victory proved to be the fifth in six games for Nicholls.
“I knew the regular season was going to come down to the final day, and it did,” Broussard said.
The Colonels led by as many as 11 in the second half only to see the lead trimmed to two with 1:36 to go in the game on a pair of free throws by Byron Hobbs.
The Colonels made 4-of-6 free throws in the final minute to preserve the win.
Nicholls was out rebounded 35-34, but committed 10 turnovers compared to 15 by the Bobcats, and shot 43.8 percent from the field for the game.
The Colonels got 25 points from Haralson and 23 from Bacon on the night
Texas-San Antonio 73 Nicholls 66
The Colonels saw their four-game win streak snapped with a 73-66 loss to homestanding UTSA March 1 in SLC action.
Trailing 31-23 at the half, Nicholls was down 42-30 with 17:30 left in the game.
Nicholls would cut the Roadrunner lead to five on a 3-pointer by Shane Beaudean at the 14:16 mark.
After a made free throw by UTSA, the Colonels cut the lead to four on a 3-pointer by Porter. Porter, who led Nicholls with a career-high 22 points, finished with six threes on the night.
That would be as close as Nicholls would get as UTSA would go 5-for-8 from the free throw line to take the win.
Bacon and Haralson each scored 14 points, while Haralson hauled in 14 rebounds and Bacon grabbed 10.
Nicholls 64 SLU 54
On Feb. 24, Nicholls downed the Lions 64-54 in Hammond. Haralson and Porter led the team with 17 points each, while Green added nine.
The Colonels were down 28-26 at the half, but outscored SLU 38-26 in the second half to take the win.
