Box Score THIBODAUX – It's said that things are always at its worst before they get better.
 
That's what the McNeese Cowboys are banking on after a disappointing 71-56 loss to last place Nicholls here Saturday afternoon as the Colonels led from start to finish to snap a seven-game losing streak while handing the Cowboys their third straight defeat while keeping them winless on the road for the season with their 12^th consecutive defeat away from home.
 
The Cowboys (5-15, 3-7 SLC) will now put their hopes in this defeat being rock bottom as they can look forward to putting together a strong final month of the season with five of the next six games played at home.
 
True freshmen James Harvey (15 points) and Jarren Greenwood (13) accounted for half of the Cowboys' point total as no other Cowboys scored more than 5. Team scoring leader Jamaya Burr was held to 3 points on 1 of 8 shooting. And a team that just five days ago was magnificent in the assist/turnover ratio category with a 17/6 mark at Southeastern Louisiana, dished out just five assists while turning the ball over 13 times.
 
And much like the SLU game, the Cowboys were dominated on the boards 48-30 and hauled in just nine off the offensive glass.
 
Nicholls (6-18, 2-8 SLC) scored the game's first five points before McNeese's Craig McFerrin netted a traditional 3-point play nearly three minutes into the game for the team's first points. That would be the only basket McFerrin would score the rest of the way. He made good on two other free throws as he finished with five points and a team-high six rebounds, zero on the offensive end.
 
The Colonels took control of the paint early and never let go of their tight grip. They scored an astounding 46 of their 71 points in the paint as 7-footer Liam Thomas had his way with 12 rebounds, 9 points and 5 blocked shots. Nicholls swatted away a season-high 10 shots on the day.
 
Adam Ward and Johnathan Bell eached scored 15 points to pace the Colonels. Ward added 8 rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
The Colonels built a 39-32 halftime lead behind 52 percent shooting from the field. They led by as many as 13 points at 26-13 with 9:07 to play in the half but McNeese's Harvey struck fire to connect on three straight 3s and the lead was cut to three at 31-28 with 4:43 to play in the half. But Thomas came up big with a couple of offensive rebounds and putbacks to help inflate the lead by to double-digits before Harvey scored the final four points for the Cowboys of the half to cut the margin to seven.
 
McNeese connected on 43 percent from the field in the first half but was at its worst in the second after making just 7 of 32 in the final 20 minutes for 22 percent. That included a dismal 2 of 17 from 3-point range for 12 percent. For the game, the Cowboys shot 31.7 percent overall and 23.1 percent from long range.
 
That poor second half shooting enabled Nicholls to open the first 4:30 of the second half on a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 49-34 with 15:30 to play.
 
A 3 by Shaun Johnson pulled the Cowboys to within 57-43 with 10:57 to play but Nicholls followed with 8 straight points, the first on a made free throw by Thomas followed by three straight layups by Ja'Dante Frye, the third drawing a foul and a made free throw, to put Nicholls up comfortably at 65-43 with 7:00 to play.
 
The Cowboys' second significant run of the game came with 4:03 to play when they put together a 9-4 run to end the game.
 
McNeese will finally return home on Thursday against New Orleans for the first home game since beating Incarnate Word on Jan. 25.