THIBODAUX, La. – Despite giving up the first 15 points of Saturday afternoon's game, the East Texas A&M University men's basketball team fought back to make it a three-point game in the second half, but the Nicholls Colonels used another scoring burst to roll to an 80-58 win in Stopher Gymnasium.
 
After being held scoreless and trailing 15-0 through the first five minutes of the game, the Lions scored 15 of the next 20 and made it a 20-15 game with 8:12 left in the first half.
 
Nicholls did push its lead back up to 11 in the half as it remained a perfect 5-0 in Southland Conference play with the win and 6-8 overall, while the Lions fall to 6-9 overall, 1-4 in conference play and have now lost three in a row.
 
The Colonels had a 31-25 lead at halftime and scored the first three points of the second half but then came six straight points from the Lions to make it a three-point game at the 16:31 mark.
 
Following a timeout, the Colonels went on a quick 8-0 run, and the scoring margin was not lower than eight the rest of the game. The Lions were held to just four points in the final 6:12 of the game with Nicholls scoring 14 points in that stretch and its biggest lead of 22 points came with the final points scored in the game.
 
Both Noah Pagotto (Wollongong, Australia) and Josh Taylor (Atlanta, Ga.) scored 17 points each for the Lions. Pagotto added seven rebounds as well in just 19 minutes. For the Colonels, Sincere Malone scored 21 points.
 
In the game, the Colonels forced 24 turnovers and scored 32 off those Lion turnovers. Forty-two of the 58 points for the Lions came in the paint.
 

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The Lions end the road trip down south at New Orleans on Monday at 7 p.m.