THIBODAUX – Nicholls scored 14 straight in the second half after McNeese State scored the final 11 points of the first half to go up 27-24, then the Colonels held off a late Cowboys rally to take a 70-59 Southland Conference win here Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak by McNeese (9-12, 3-7 SLC) while Nicholls (7-13, 4-6) notched its first winning streak for the first time in a year.
 
"We didn't come ready to play," said head coach Dave Simmons. "Our seniors have to step it up and come ready to play every game. We can't take anyone lightly in this league. We'll get back to work tomorrow (Sunday) and get ready for UNO."
 
Kevin Hardy, who became McNeese's all-time career leader in steals with two in the game to give him 208 in his career, led the team with 21 points while Desharick Guidry recorded his NCAA-leading 16^th double-double behind an 11-point, 13-rebound game.
 
McNeese made just 19 of 60 shots for 31.7 percent and was 5 of 19 for 26.3 percent from 3-point range.
 
Nicholls sank over 50 percent for the second straight game after hitting 27 of 52, and knocked down 16 of 27 for 59 percent in the second half.
 
After a back-and-forth first half through the first 13 minutes, Nicholls opened up an eight-point lead at 22-14 and again at 24-16 with 2:42 to play. McNeese came to life and scored 11 straight behind a couple of layups by Jordan Wells, a 3 from Guidry, and layups by Hardy and Jamaya Burr to give the Pokes a 27-24 lead a the break.
 
Nicholls didn't waver and came out on fire in the second half by going 5-for-5 from the field including two 3-pointers leading up to a 14-0 run.
 
T.J. Carpenter let the fuse with back-to-back 3s and after a layup by Ja'Dante Frye made it a 12-0 run and a 36-27 lead for the Colonels just 2:40 into the half, Simmons called timeout and sat his five starters.
 
"I was trying to send a message there," said Simmons. "We've got to come ready to play every single game and our starters were not ready at all."
 
After spending four minutes on the bench and seeing the Nicholls lead jump to 16 points at 47-31, the starters were put back in and the energy that was displayed at the end of the first half seemed to have made an appearance at that point.
 
A Hardy layup with 8:57 to play cut the gap to 50-40 and after Nicholls jumped back up to a 14 point lead a minute later, the Cowboys strung together eight straight points to cut the lead to 6 at 54-48 with 4:04 to play following two Guidry free throws.
 
But that would be the closest the Cowboys would get as Nicholls, who entered the game ranked last in the league in free throw shooting, hit 10 of 11 in the latter part of the half to help secure the win.
 
Frye led the Colonels with 19 points while Carpenter and Liam Thomas each scored 12.
 
The Cowboys will be back in action on Monday night when they visit UNO to close out their three-game road swing.