The Southeastern Louisiana Lions gave the Colonels more than they can handle Saturday evening, as the Lions defeated Nicholls, 84-76, at the University Center in Hammond.

The Colonels dropped their fourth straight conference game to fall to

7-12 on the season and 3-5 in Southland Conference play. Southeastern improved to 8-11 overall, and 2-6 in the SLC.

"This was a tough loss for us," said head coach J.P. Piper. "We competed hard and played hard, and there was a little stretch there in the second half where we had them on the ropes and could have separated the game.

We were there hand-in-face challenging guys to make tough shots, and we came back down and made tough shots, but we just couldn't get over that hump. We shot well and competed well, and this is just another learning experience for the Colonels."

Nicholls placed four players in double figures, led by Stefan Blaszczynski's 24 points. Adonis Gray contributed 17 points, while Cyril Djoukeng and James Dixon chipped in 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Quennell Green scored a game-high 29 points, to lead the Lions. Ricky Woods, who came into the game averaging 17.2 points and

10.7 rebounds a game, finished with 13 points and six rebounds, all but one rebound coming in the second half. Joseph Polite added 11 points.

The Colonels out shot Southeastern, shooting 54 percent from the field and 50 percent from the three-point arc. Southeastern shot 48.5 percent,

43.8 percent from beyond the arc.

After Southeastern took an early 3-0 lead to start the game, a Michael Czepil three-pointer with 14:39 left in the first half tied the game at 5-5. However, the Lions went on a 7-2 run, capped by a Ray Cummings jumper over the next 2:28 to take a 12-7 lead. Southeastern maintained the lead for the remainder of the half. A Polite jumper with 5:10 left in the opening half gave the Lions their largest lead of the half at 28-20. Nicholls responded by finishing the half on a 9-4 run, to enter the locker room down by only three, at 32-29.

Coming out of halftime, the Colonels cut Southeastern's lead to 32-31 eight seconds into the second half on a Czepil layup. However, the Lions went on a 10-2 run over the next 2:46 to go ahead 42-33. Nicholls did not waste anytime fighting back, as three straight three-pointers by Blaszczynski tied the game for the first time since the 14:39 mark in the first half, 42-42. A Djounkeng three-point bucket gave the Colonels their first lead of the game at 49-47, with 12:18 remaining in the game, to only be retied on two Woods free throws 20 seconds later. After a Gray jumper gave the Colonels their final lead of the night at 51-49, with 10:57 showing on the game clock, Southeastern responded once again, this time going on a 17-5 run over the next 5:18 to break open the game at 66-56 in favor of the Lions. Nicholls could not get any closer than six points for the remainder of the game, giving Southeastern the 84-76 victory.

The Colonels will look to get back on the winning track next week, as they travel to Texas-San Antonio on Thursday evening for 7 p.m. start time.