Colonels lead from start to finish over Lions on way to Southland semifinals

Trailing 34-21 at halftime, Texas A&M-Commerce’s Khaliq Abdul-Mateen hit a 3-pointer 59 seconds into the second half and cut the Lions’ deficit down to 10 points.

If the Lions had any notion of a comeback, it ended over the next four minutes

Abdul-Mateen’s 3-pointer was followed by a 13-point run by Nicholls, allowing the Colonels to run off to a 47-24 lead on their way to a 72-51 win in the Southland Conference tournament quarterfinals Monday night in Lake Charles.

The win advances Nicholls, the No. 3 seed, to the semifinals against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the No. 2 seed, at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The 13-point run started on three layups by Diante Smith, Byron Ireland, and Jamal West. After Rob Brown hit a 3-pointer, it was another layup, this time by Michael Gray.

An alley-oop dunk by Mekhi Collins off of a Lions turnover put an emphatic thump to close out the run.

When Alonzo Dodd scored on a layup to make it 47-26 at the 15:07 mark of the second half, it was the first points for Commerce in almost four minutes.

Nicholls (19-13) would lead by as many as 24 points in the second half. The Lions (13-20) would get no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

Brown led all scorers with 18 points. He hit 5 of 6 from 3-point range. Smith added 14 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Quinn Strander had a career-high 11 points.

The Nicholls defense led the SLC’s No. 2 scorer, Kaden Williams to 12 points and eight rebounds. He went into the game averaging 18.5 points per game. Dodd finished with 15 points for the Lions.

Nicholls topped 50 percent shooting from both the field and 3-point range. The Colonels were 28 of 50 (56 percent) from the floor, including 8 of 14 (57 percent) from 3-point distance.

The Colonel defense limited Commerce to under 33 percent from both the floor and 3-point range. The Lions were 18 of 57 (32 percent) from the field, and 6 of 26 (23 percent) from distance.

Nicholls out-rebounded the Lions 39-27, including an advantage of 35-20 on the defensive boards. The Colonels outscored Commerce 36-22 in the paint.

Nicholls scored the game’s first seven points on a layup by Brown, a jumper by Smith, and a 3-pointer by Brown.

The Lions went more than three minutes before scoring their first basket of the game on a jumper in the paint by Williams.

After Nicholls had taken the early lead, the Colonels went scoreless for more than two minutes as the Lions momentarily closed the gap. A dunk by Agwa off of a Colonels turnover pulled Commerce to within 11-10 at the 13:24 mark of the opening half.

With Nicholls ahead 13-10, Brown hit a 3-pointer, giving him 11 of the Colonels’ first 16 points and a six-point edge.

Nicholls extended the lead to 11 points on a 3-pointer by Smith before the Lions narrowed the margin down to five points on a layup by Dodd to make the score 23-18 with 5:21 left in the first half.

Again, the Colonels responded. An 11-point run gave Nicholls its biggest lead of the half at 16 points, 34-18.

Strander started the run with a three-point play and Smith hit a 3-pointer. Gray hit two free throws before Strander scored on a layup. A free throw by Gray gave the Colonels their 16-point lead with 2:43 left in the half as Nicholls went on to lead 34-21 at the break.

Brown finished the first half with 12 points and Smith 10 as the Nicholls duo outscored the entire Lions team.