Colonels overcome another slow start at home on the way to win over Elizabeth City

Playing only their second home game of the season, the Nicholls men’s basketball team got off to a similar start against Elizabeth City State University as in their home opener against Blue Mountain Christian.

Nicholls was tied 5-5 in its game against Blue Mountain Christian before going on an 8-0 run to build 13-5 edge and a halftime lead of 37-26. Opening more aggressively in the second half, the Colonels scored the first nine points to ultimately defeat the NAIA school 86-56 in late November.

Against Elizabeth City, a Division II school, the Colonels started 1 of 9 from the field, including 0 of 6 from 3-point range to trail by as many as nine points in the first half before turning things around to the tune of an 84-70 win Saturday afternoon on Broussard Court at Stopher Gym.

Behind a career-high 25 points from Byron Ireland, the Colonels finished by hitting 49 percent from the field.

“We wanted to get out early and get a jump on them early and we didn’t. We knew going into the second half we had to come out strong and defend and keep trusting our side and keep shooting with confidence,” said Ireland.

“It’s what I’ve been telling my guys, I thought we got off to a slow start in the first game at home. I thought we got off to a slow start this game. It’s a reflection on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting the guys to come out and go. Once we settled in mid-first half, we were able to keep the lead,” Nicholls coach Tevon Saddler said.

Trailing 20-12 in the opening half, the Colonels (4-6) picked up the defensive intensity and created a few easy transition baskets to earn their first lead of the game.

Jalen White hit a pair of free throws after Elizabeth City’s Christopher Wright was assessed a technical foul. Jamal West added two free throws and then hit a jumper to pull the Colonels to within two points at 20-18.

After the Vikings (3-7) rebuilt their lead to four points, a 3-pointer White made it a one-point game. Two white free throws with 5:57 remaining in the first half gave Nicholls a 23-22 lead and the Colonels would never trail again.

“That was just Coach getting on us,” Ireland said of the increased defensive intensity. “We practice all week, we focused on 35 possessions and getting five kills, that was our main goal going into the second half.”

A 3-pointer by Rob Brown and a basket by Michael Gray extended the Nicholls lead to 28-22 with 5:14 left in the half as Nicholls went on to lead 36-32 at halftime.

Nicholls maintained a lead of between three and eight points through approximately the first 12 minutes of the second half before pulling away.

The Colonels extended the lead to double digits when Brown connected on a 3-pointer for a 62-50 advantage with 8:49 left in the game.

The biggest lead for Nicholls came at 20 points when a West free throw gave the Colonels a 74-54 lead with six minutes left in the game.

Elizabeth City could get no closer than 11 points down the stretch when Xavier Tubbs-Matthews hit a jumper with 1:59 left in the game to make it 79-68 before Nicholls went on to take the 84-70 win.

Ireland was one of four double-figure scorers for Nicholls. West added 17 points, Brown 16, and White 11. West had nine rebounds to pace the Colonels.

Michaels Eads had 14 points for the Vikings and Reggie Raynor 10, while Eric Butler had five rebounds for Elizabeth City.

Nicholls produced 20 fastbreak points in the contest.

After the 1 for 9 start, the Colonels ended up shooting 8 of 23 (34.7 percent) from the field in the first half, and 17 of 28 (60.7 percent) in the second. Nicholls ended up hitting on 25 of 51 shots for the game. The Vikings were 24 of 61 (39.8 percent) from the field.

The Colonels were 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from 3-point range, and Elizabeth City was 2 of 11 (11.1 percent).

Nicholls had trouble early with Amadou Traore, Elizabeth City’s burly 6-foot-7 forward, who scored five of his team’s first eight points. The Vikings and Traore could have had even more had he not missed five of his six free-throw attempts during that span.

The Colonels didn’t hit double-figure scoring as a team until two free throws by Ireland pulled Nicholls to within 14-10 at the 10:09 mark of the first half.

It was at that point the Colonels went on their run to eventually lead 36-32 at halftime on the way to the 84-70 triumph.

“I thought we really did some good things in the second half. We are a little banged up right now. We had a brutal schedule. I’m excited to get these 10 days of recovery and go back to the University of Maryland,” said Saddler.