Loss to North Texas puts Nicholls at 1-5 on season

DENTON, Texas — Turnovers proved to be the story of the night, as the Nicholls Colonels turned the ball over 24 times in a 98-82 loss to the North Texas Mean Green Saturday evening in The Super Pit.

With the loss, the Colonels fall to 1-5 on the season, while the Mean Green evened their record to 3-3.

&#8220I am very proud of our effort this evening,” said head coach J.P. Piper. &#8220Our guys grew up on the boards as we outrebounded North Texas; however, we need to clean up our effort in terms of taking care of the basketball. But, I thought we made progress tonight as a team, and we are getting better.”

Four Colonels finished the game in double digits, led by Adonis Gray’s 22 points and Kevin Goffney’s 20 points and nine rebounds. Stefan Blaszczynski and Michael Czepil finished the night with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Kendrick Davis scored 21 points for the Mean Green, followed by Lionel Brown’s and Quincy Williams’ 14 points each.

Nicholls and North Texas were almost exact in most categories of the game as the Colonels shot 51 percent from the field compared to the Mean Green’s 50 percent. Nicholls outscored North Texas on the boards, 38-37. However, turnovers would be the Colonels downfall, as Nicholls turned the ball over 24 times to the 15 by the Mean Green.

North Texas jumped out to a 16-9 lead with 12:31 remaining in the opening half. The Colonels cut the deficit to four one minute later after a layup by Blaszczynski and a Czepil free throw. However, that would be the closest Nicholls would get. The Mean Green closed out the final four minutes of the game with a 14-7 run to head into the locker room with a 48-37 lead.

The Colonels opened the second half with a three-point bucket by Michael Czepil to cut the North Texas lead to eight, but a jumper and free throw by Harold Stewart extended the Mean Green’s lead back to 11. Following another Czepil three-pointer brought the deficit back to eight, North Texas went on a 16-2 run to lead 67-48 with 14:49 left in the game. Nicholls would not get any closer than 13 points, as the Mean Green cruised to the 98-82 victory.

Nicholls will close out their seven-game road swing on Thursday, as the Colonels travel to Oxford, Miss. to play Ole Miss. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at &#8220Tad” Smith Coliseum.