Tempo control, quick start by Towson too much for Colonels to overcome in 65-55 loss

Towson State, known for playing at among the slowest paces in the nation, controlled tempo from the start, jumped out to an 11-0 lead, and never allowed the Nicholls offense to get on track in handing the Colonels a 65-55 loss Friday afternoon in Towson, Md.

Nicholls, a team which went into the game scoring 74 points per game, was held to 19 below its average in falling to 4-8 on the season. Towson improved to 6-6 on the season.

After Towson took its l1-point lead to open the game, the Colonels chipped away to trail by only three points before eventually falling behind by 14 points at halftime.

Towson’s biggest lead of the game came early in the second half when a free throw by Charles Thompson gave the Tigers a 17-point advantage of 33-16 1:58 into the second half.

The Nicholls deficit stayed between 13 and 15 points for most of the second half until the Colonels cut the margin to under double digits when the second of two Oumar Koureissi free throws made it 64-55 with 56 seconds left in the game.

Neither team shot well from the field.

Nicholls was 17 of 48 (35 percent) from the field, including 4 of 17 (24 percent) from 3-point range.

Towson was 23 of 58 (40 percent) from the field, including 7 of 28 (25 percent) from distance.

The Tigers’ win margin could have been larger as the Towson hit only 7 of 28 (46 percent) from the free-throw line. The Colonels were 17 of 23 (74 percent) from the free-throw line.

The closing seven minutes was a free-throw shooting contest.

Nicholls was 8 of 11 from the line down the stretch and Towson 6 of 9.

Jamal West, a native of Baltimore, carried the load for Nicholls with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Diante Smith had 13 points for Nicholls.

Christian May had 16 points for Towson, Mendah Tarke 13, and Dylan Williamson 10. Tarke and Mekhi Lowery each had six rebounds for the Tigers.

Towson out-rebounded Nicholls 42-33.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Tarke and May helped the Tigers run off to an 11-0 lead against Nicholls.

The Colonels didn’t score their first points until the 14:55 mark of the first half on a layup by Smith to make the score 11-2.

Despite cold shooting by Nicholls and the early lead for Towson, the Colonels rallied back on a 3-pointer by Rob Brown and two Koureissi free throws to pull to within three points at 14-11 with 8:46 remaining in the opening half.

After the teams traded baskets, both teams went cold from the floor.

A basket by Mekhi Collins at the 7:31 mark of the first half allowed Nicholls to trail 16-13, but the only point the Colonels could muster the remainder of the first half was a West free throw with 12 seconds left in the half.

The Tigers went into a scoring drought of 3:31 themselves but began to pull away late in the half, outscoring the Colonels 12-1 to take a 28-14 lead. The 14-point margin at the break represented Towson’s biggest lead of the first half.