Colonel basketball team picks up another home win to move to 10-4 in SLC play

Players from both teams were able to heed the advice of their respective coaches in Nicholls’ 89-77 win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday afternoon on Broussard Court at Stopher Gym.

Texas A&M-Commerce went into the game short of players after several Lions were suspended by the Southland Conference after their postgame altercation in a recent game against Incarnate Word.

For Nicholls’ part, the Colonels took to heart a message from their coach, Tevon Saddler, that they were still taking on a capable team in the Lions.

“I felt we just came in with the mindset as just because they’re short-handed, they’re not going to come in and lay down for us and we had to make sure that we put them away. I think that we did that down the stretch,” said Robert Brown III, who scored 17 points.

“Coming into the game, some of their players got into a little altercation at their last game and we knew that they wouldn’t have their full team. We went into this week, the practices and stuff, as if they had their whole team. The mindset was not to take them lightly because they had the same team that they had when we were there, other than one starting player,” said Diante Smith, who led Nicholls with 19 points.

The Lions only had five players on their entire bench but had their backcourt intact.

Kalen Williams, who is fourth in the SLC in scoring at 16 points per game, pumped in a game-high 31 points to keep Texas A&M-Commerce in the game.

“We have our three starting guards. Those guys are all very capable, and we’ve got guys on the bench that are capable,” said Lions coach Jaret von Rosenberg. “He (Williams) really had a good night tonight. Tommie (Lewis) had a really good second half. He struggled a little bit in the first half, but we’re a team that’s good when we have multiple players in double figures. I think we had two guys there, but we would have needed three or four with the offense we play.”

Lewis actually finished with nine points with Williams being the only double-figure scorer for the Lions.

After recent games with 20-plus turnovers, the Colonels cut that down in half.

“We were 22-10 – two-to-one assists/turnover ratio, I was really proud of that,” said Saddler. “That’s something I value. A lot of turnovers have been hurting us lately. We had a couple late that I wasn’t happy about, but overall, I’ll take 10 turnovers.”

That was something that caught the eye of von Rosenberg.

“I thought they made some really big shots. They had 22 assists. They’re not a heavy assist team, but that’s a great job of preparation. We over-help a lot. That’s kind of our style defensively and they really made us pay for it,” said von Rosenberg.

With Williams scoring 15 first-half points, Nicholls held a six-point edge of 39-33 at halftime.

Nicholls reached its biggest lead of the game at 15 points on a slam by Mekhi Collins for a 59-44 advantage with 12 minutes left in the game.

The Lions made a run at Nicholls late in the game.

Trailing 72-59, Commerce scored seven-straight points on a layup by Rob Banks, a 3-pointer by Lewis, and two Williams free throws to trail only by six points at 72-66 with 2:21 left in the game.

That was as close as the Lions would get.

Nicholls scored the last seven points of the game on two free throws by Brown, two Quinn Strander free throws, and a 3-point heave by Taylor Blanchard at the buzzer. Blanchard’s buzzer beater allowed the final margin of 15 points to equal the Colonels’ biggest lead of the game.

Blanchard, who had entered the game only 29 seconds earlier, was one of three seniors honored on Senior Night. Strander, another senior, finished with nine points. The other senior, Jalen White, had six points.

“I was just proud how we came out tonight, Senior Night, we wanted to send those guys out the right way. I always remind them guys of how hard it is to win the basketball game, so we keep finding different ways to win,” Saddler said.

After Commerce cut into the lead, the Colonels came up big when they had to, according to von Rosenberg.

“That’s where I thought they hit some huge shots when the game got close. Maybe we got two hands on the ball down here, but we just don’t get it and they come down there and get fouled or hit a big three. They shot the ball well when they had their opportunities,” von Rosenberg said.

The win improved Nicholls to 15-12 overall and 10-4 in the Southland to stay in contention for a potential double-bye in the first round of the conference tournament.

Commerce fell to 4-11 in the conference and 10-18 overall.

Texas A&M-Commerce held an early 4-3 lead with the Colonels leading the rest of the way in the opening half.

Nicholls held leads of between three and five points through the first 10 minutes of the first half before expanding its lead.

A three-point play by Smith when he hit a free throw after scoring while driving the lane gave Nicholls an eight-point edge at 28-20.

The biggest lead for Nicholls in the first half was 11 points when Smith, who scored 12 points in the opening period, knocked down a 3-pointer from the right baseline for a 35-24 advantage at the 4:16 mark of the first half.

Commerce answered with a 7-1 run on two James Weathers free throws, a basket off an offensive rebound by K.C. Ugwuakaz, and a Williams 3-pointer to pull to withing 36-31 with 2:44 left before halftime.

A layup by Byron Ireland with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter allowed Nicholls to take a 39-33 lead to the locker room.