Louisiana Tech makes most of second-chance opportunities to hand Colonels 68-55 loss

A second-chance dunk by Isiah Crawford gave Louisiana Tech its biggest lead of the game at the time at 16 points with 5:24 left in the contest and epitomized the type of day it was for the Nicholls men’s basketball team.

Being out-rebounded 47-30 and shooting only 34 percent from the field, the Colonels could hardly afford to give Louisiana Tech second-chance points.

In the end, Nicholls lost 68-55 Saturday afternoon in Ruston as the Colonels scored only three second-chance points while allowing 21.

The loss dropped Nicholls to 3-6 while Louisiana Tech improved to 6-2 on the season.

Louisiana Tech’s biggest lead of the game was 17 points when a Jordan Crawford free throw gave the Bulldogs a 66-49 advantage with 1:44 left in the game.

The final 13-point deficit was a close as the Colonels would get down the stretch.

Nicholls had cut an 11-point first-half deficit to eight at halftime, but Louisiana Tech quickly rebuilt its 11-point advantage thanks, in part, to Bulldog free throws following technical foul calls against Colonels coach Tevon Saddler and Jamal West.

Jalen White, who played all 40 minutes for Nicholls, led the Colonels in scoring with 16. Oumar Koureissi added 10 points for Nicholls. West, who logged 38 minutes, led the Colonels in rebounding with eight.

Tech’s Tahlik Chavez led all scorers with 20 points.

Daniel Batcho, a 6-foot-11, red-shirt junior from France and a Texas Tech transfer, made a living scoring off his own misses. After missing his initial shots in the paint, he came up with his own rebounds to finish with 15 rebounds and 14 points.

Devin Ree had 15 points for the Bulldogs and Jordan Crawford 11.

With neither team shooting well from the field, a pair of 3-pointers by Chavez gave Louisiana Tech an eight-point edge at 14-6 at the 12:27 mark of the first half.

The Colonels didn’t reach double-figure scoring as a team until 11:25 mark of the opening half on a transition basket by Michael Gray off a Bulldogs turnover to get Nicholls to within four points at 14-10.

The biggest lead for Louisiana Tech in the opening half was 11 points – the first time at 23-12 on a second-chance basket by Jordan Crawford, and at 30-19 on a second-chance basket by Batcho.

A 7-0 run by Nicholls cut the deficit to three points at 30-27 with 1:41 left in the first half following a 3-pointer by Robert Brown, a dunk by Mekhi Collins, and a jumper by White before Tech went on to take a 35-27 halftime lead.