Overtime-tested Colonels on way to SLC championship game after win over Islanders

If ever a team was ready for overtime, it was the Nicholls Colonels.

Nicholls played five overtime games during the regular season, four against Southland Conference foes, so with the tournament finals on the line, the experienced overtime team came through.

The game went to overtime tied 69-69 and the extra period looked mighty Gray for the Colonels.

Michael Gray scored nine of Nicholls’ 12 overtime points, leading the Colonels to the conference championship game after an 81-73 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the No. 2 seed, on Tuesday night in Lake Charles.

Nicholls, the No. 3 seed, will take on regular-season champion No. 1 seed McNeese at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the Cowboys’ home court.

Oumar Koureissi and Gray opened the overtime period each hitting a free throw. Rob Brown followed with the field goal, and the final eight points of overtime were scored by Gray. Gray hit a 3-pointer and the other five points came via free throws.

The Islanders managed only four points in the overtime period but trailed only 75-73 with 2:34 remaining but Gray scored the final five points of the game to give Nicholls the eight-point win and a trip to the conference title game.

In a game that featured five technical fouls, including two double-technical calls, and numerous players in foul trouble, the second half became a game of attrition.

With Nicholls (20-13) leading 35-30 going into the second half, Corpus Christi’s Owen Dease, who had rallied the Islanders back late in the first half to keep his team in the game, picked up his fourth foul less than a minute into the second half.

Instead of fading without Dease, the Islanders went on to take the lead. Jordan Roberts hit four free throws, two coming because of technical fouls, and Gary Clark hit a 3-pointer as Corpus Christi took a 36-35 lead.

A second set of double-technicals were called. One was against Jamal West of Nicholls. It was his second technical and he was ejected with 15:40 remaining in regulation.

Over the next few minutes, Commerce’s Dayne Prim and Clark picked up fouls, joining Dease to give all three of the Islanders’ big men four fouls.

Before regulation would end, all three would foul out, as did Mekhi Collins of Nicholls, who finished with a game-high nine rebounds.

Nicholls was leading 49-45 before Clark hit a pair of 3-pointers around a basket by Gray to even the game at 53-53.

A slam by Collins put Nicholls on top 57-55.

With eight minutes left in the game, Byron Ireland took over. As players fouled out one-by-one, Gray looked like a gunslinger in and old TV Western as the last man standing.

Ireland, who did not score in the first half, came up with all eight points for Nicholls in the final eight minutes. His shot off the glass with 1:49 left in regulation gave Nicholls a 69-67 lead.

Dian Wright-Forde drove the lane for a basket to tie the game with 1:34 remaining.

The Colonels appeared to gain possession under the Islanders’ basket with 4.9 seconds remaining in the second half. A reversal of the call gave Commerce the ball and one final chance to win in regulation. The Islanders failed to score, sending the game to overtime.

Gray led Nicholls with 23 points. Diante Smith had 22 for the Colonels. Brown chipped in 12.

Clark led the Islanders with 17 points, while Roberts added 16, Dease 13, and Wright-Forde 12.

The Colonels won the game despite 20 turnovers, but the Islanders also had 15 in a physical game.

Nicholls out-rebounded Commerce 39-29, including 30-23 on the defensive boards. The Colonels had 40 points in the paint, compared to 30 for the Islanders.

A Clark layup and a 3-pointer by off of a turnover by Roberts provided a quick 5-0 lead for the Islanders.

With both teams coming out playing aggressively defense and employing constant double-teams, each squad went more than three minutes in the middle of the first half until a 3-pointer by Dease gave Corpus Christi its biggest lead of the first half of six points at 14-8 at the 11:23 mark of the opening half.

The next three minutes was all Nicholls.            

The Colonels went on a 14-0 run, turning a six-point deficit into an eight-point lead 22-14.

Gray, Smith, and Brown did all of the damage. Gray started the run with a basket, Smith followed with a 3-pointer and a three-point play. Brown closed the run with a three-point play.

When Prim scored on a layup with 8:09 remaining in the half, it snapped a scoring drought of more than three minutes for the Islanders.

Leading by six, a 3-pointer by Brown, and four Smith free throws gave the Colonels their biggest lead of the half at 12 points, 32-20.

The Islanders got back in the game in the closing stages of the first half. Dease drove the lane for a basket and hit a 3-pointer. Wright-Forde scored on a goaltending call against Nicholls to cut the margin to five points as the Colonels held on for a 35-30 halftime lead.

Smith had 18 points in the first half and Brown eight. Smith hit on 6 of 10 shots.

The Colonels held the lead despite an uncharacteristic shooting performance from 3-point range, hitting only 3 of 11 attempts in the first half.