The Nicholls men’s basketball team dropped four slots in its conference after losing to the Southeastern University Lions, 80-66, Saturday night in Stopher Gym. The Colonels (6-14, 1-4 SLC) fell to sixth place in the SLC Eastern Division while Southeastern (11-7, 3-2 SLC) moved up to second place in the standings.
Prior to playing Southeastern, Nicholls had upset heavily favored Stephen F. Austin in the team’s first conference game, and then went on a three-game skid with road losses against Sam Houston State, Texas-Arlington and Texas State.
“They (Southeastern) really shot well tonight, and it is hard to beat anyone when the opposing team shoots the way they did,” head coach J.P. Piper said. “I thought we challenged them and made them shoot tough shots, but they made them. I’m proud of our guys in the way they never gave up and fought back in the second half.”
The Lions put the game out of reach early for the Colonels with their offense shooting 67.5 percent (27 out of 40) from the field and 71.4 percent (10 out of 14) from three-point land.
The Lions’ shooting performance almost broke the school record for the best field goal percentage in a single game. The school’s best team performance came in 1964 when the Lions played University of Southern Mississippi and shot 68.6 percent from the field.
The Colonels were held to 34.5 percent (22 of 63) from the floor and 30.8 percent (8 out of 26) from the three-point range.
At the 7:45 mark in the second half, Nicholls trailed by 26 points, but they came back in the game to cut the deficit to 14 points before the end.
Junior guard Ryan Bathie led Nicholls in scoring 18 points. The junior shot 32 percent from the field and also had four rebounds.
Bathie is just three baskets away at the charity strike from tying Robert Lee’s school record of 173 free throws. Bathie is currently leading the team in scoring, averaging 12.5 point per game.
For Southeastern, senior guard Kevyn Green led the Lions with 19 points while shooting 86 percent from the floor and 75 percent from three-point range.
The Colonels will be back in action when they face Northwestern State University in Natchitoches tonight at 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard on 105.9 FM KBZE.
