Nov. 3, 2007

THIBODAUX, La. - With the season to start in two weeks, the Nicholls State men's basketball team wanted to set a positive tone against the University of Mobile in an exhibition game Saturday night in Stopher.

By the end of the night, that tone was louder than ever when down by four with less than a minute remaining, junior Ryan Bathie hit a clutch three pointer just as freshman Anatoly Bose was fouled sending him to the line making the final two free throws of the game to ensure the Nicholls 77-76 victory.

"I'm very pleased with our effort tonight, and proud of our guys for fighting back the way they did," head coach J.P. Piper said. "Mobile outplayed us in stretches tonight, but the team never quit."

The Colonels began the game with a ten point lead after eight minutes, maintaining that lead throughout the first period, even leading by 11 at one point in time, but the Rams would find their momentum toward the latter stages of the period, cutting down the lead to only two going into the second half.

Nicholls would once again take control in the second, extending the lead back to ten points, but a nine point run within seconds of each other would start to put pressure on the Colonels. Mobile would earn it's first lead of the game but they could never keep Nicholls from coming back.

The largest lead the Rams would have would be seven, when Mobile was up 70-63 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. One area that helped the Colonels would be at the foul line, as Mobile racked up the fouls early in the half to put the Colonels at the charity stripe.

The Colonels would finish the game shooting 39 free throws, making 26 of them, while the Rams would only shoot 20. Along with that, Nicholls would out-rebounded Mobile 26-18, with some of those being second chance points. Nicholls would finish the game shooting 55 percent from the floor, 50 percent from the three point line, and 66 percent from the free throw line.

The two players that would finsh the game also finished 1-2 in scoring as Bathie would finish the game with 12 points to lead the Colonels, followed by Bose with 11. Marcus Yeager would lead all players with 23 points followed by Walter Fitzgerald with 15.

The Colonels will begin the season November 9 against Florida State in Tallahassee before returning home on the 13th for a doubleheader with the Lady Colonels with the Colonels playing Huston-Tillotson at 7:30 after the Lady Colonels' game with Dillard at 5:30.