Box Score

THIBODAUX – Nicholls State's Ryan Bathie scored a game-high 23 points, including two free throws with 21 seconds remaining, and the Colonels moved into a first-place tie with Stephen F. Austin in the Southland Conference East Division after rallying for a 52-50 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Saturday at Stopher Gym.

Antoly Bose scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half as Nicholls State (15-9, 8-3 SLC) trailed by as many as 11 points in the game and 30-22 at halftime. Southeastern, which has lost its last four games by a combined total of 12 points, fell to 9-14 overall and 3-7 in the SLC.

Bathie, who added five steals for the Colonels, tied the game at 47-47 with a 3-pointer with 4:03 remaining before Bose snapped the deadlock just over three minutes later with a 3-pointer for a 50-47 lead – its first since midway in the first half.

Southeastern's Warrell Span tied the game with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession before a potential go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds by Brandon Fortenberry fell short.

Nicholls State built a 17-11 lead with 11:38 left in the first half on a basket by Bathie, who scored 14 in the first half on 5 of 10 shooting. Southeastern used a 14-0 run to erase the Colonels' largest lead of the game behind Damon Forest, who drained four 3-pointers in the stretch with Deshawn Patterson giving the Lions a 19-17 lead.

The Lions pushed their lead to 29-18 on a jumper by David Ndoumba at the 2:29 mark before Bathie and Kellan Carter scored on layups to cut the Southeastern lead to 29-22 with 1:09 remaining.

Bathie opened the second half with a 3-pointer to close the gap to within 30-25 before Patrick Sullivan scored four straight points for the Lions to push the lead to 34-25. After Sullivan scored on a fastbreak layup to give the Lions a 36-30 lead at the 15:15 mark, Bose tied the game for the Colonels with a dunk and free throw before sinking a 3-pointer with 12:16 left.

Southeastern pushed the lead to 45-38 after Fortenberry scored on a driving layup, but the Colonels fought back as Dominic Friend scored on a basket, Bathie hit one of two free throws and Michael Czepil hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 45-44 with 5:36 remaining.

Forest, who scored in double figures for the fifth consecutive game, led Southeastern with 15 points – but was held to one in the second half. Sullivan added 13 for the Lions, who shot 61 percent (11-for-18) in the first half and 5-for-8 from behind the 3-point line.

The Lions held Nicholls State to 37 percent shooting for the game (16-for-43) with the Colonels sinking 10 3-pointers, including 6-for-12 in the second half. Southeastern committed 17 turnovers and was outrebounded, 28-21, as Bose led all players with six.

Southeastern returns home on Wednesday when it battles UT Arlington in a 7 p.m. contest at the University Center.

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (9-14, 3-7 SLC)
Forest 4-7 3-4 15; Sullivan 6-8 1-3 13; Fortenberry 3-6 2-2 9; Span 3-5 0-0 7; Ndoumba 1-1 0-0 2; Cyprian 1-6 0-0 2; Patterson 1-4 0-0 2; Pope 0-0 0-0 0; Tibbs 0-0 0-0 0; Richard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-37 6-9 50.

NICHOLLS STATE (15-9, 8-3 SLC)
Bathie 7-14 4-6 23; Bose 4-13 4-5 15; Payne 1-2 2-2 5; Friend 2-4 0-0 4; Czepil 1-2 0-1 3; Carter 1-4 0-0 2; Hunter 0-2 0-0 0; McCallum 0-0 0-0 0; Iles 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-43 10-14 52.

Halftime – SLU 30, Nicholls State 22. 3-point goals – SLU 6-15 (Forest 4-5; Fortenberry 1-3; Span 1-1; Cyprian 0-3; Patterson 0-3), Nicholls State 10-23 (Bathie 5-10; Bose 3-9; Payne 1-2; Czepil 1-1; Friend 0-1). Fouled out - Cyprian. Rebounds – SLU 21 (Span, Patterson 4), Nicholls State 28 (Bose 6). Assists – SLU 9 (Sullivan 3), Nicholls State 13 (Payne 4). Total fouls – SLU 17, Nicholls State 15. Technical fouls - None. A – 1,392.