Colonels fall short to Cowboys, 64-59 Turnovers proved to be the Colonels' worst enemy, as Nicholls fell short in a hard fought game to the McNeese State Cowboys, 64-59, Thursday night at the Lake Charles Civic Center. The Colonels committed 23 turnovers on the night, and the Cowboys capitalized by scoring 25 points off of the Nicholls miscues. The loss dropped Nicholls to 7-9 on the season and 3-2 in Southland Conference action. McNeese improved to 9-7 overall and 4-1 in conference play. "I am disappointed in the loss, but pleased with our effort and intensity," commented head coach J.P. Piper. "We felt that we were in a position to win, and things kind of fell apart on us. We made a few bad turnovers down the stretch, but guys were trying to make plays. We never lost our confidence out there, and I think that says a lot about our young team." Adonis Gray led all scorers with 17 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Stefan Blaszczynski chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds. The Cowboys were paced by Ryan Price and J.T. Williams' 14 points a piece. For the night, Nicholls shot 47 percent, to McNeese State's 42.1 percent. The Cowboys out rebounded the Colonels 33 to 32. McNeese State established themselves early in the first half, jumping out to a 15-6 lead after six minutes of play. The Cowboys extended the lead to 37-23, on a Price three-pointer with 2:50 to play in the first half. The Colonels ended the half with a 9-3 run, cutting the deficit to 40-32 at halftime. Nicholls carried the momentum gained from the opening half, going on a 14-6 run over the first eight minutes of the second half to tie the score at 46-46, the first tie since the score was 6-6 early in the game. Michael Czepil's three-pointer with 10:28 remaining to play, gave the Colonels their first lead of the game, since the 17:14 minute mark of the first half, at 49-48. After tying the score at 52-52 on a Ryan Bathie three-point bucket with 8:16 to play, Nicholls saw the Cowboys go on a 10-2 run over the next 2:05, to open up a 62-54 lead.  The Colonels clawed back to cut the lead to three, with 33 seconds remaining, but could not complete their second big comeback of the game, as McNeese State went on to the victory. "We've come a long way since Monroe and I am excited about seeing how this young team will respond," said Piper. "McNeese is an excellent basketball team, and I think that if they are a first place contender, then I like the Colonels' chances. There is a lot of basketball left to play, and I like the progress we are making." Nicholls returns to action Saturday afternoon when they travel to play Texas-Arlington. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. Information provided by NSU Sports Information

Posted on Friday, January 20, 2006 (Archive on Monday, January 23, 2006) Posted by susan  Contributed by susan

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