THIBODAUX – Nicholls scored the first six points of the game, led 27-2 at one point, built a 390-15 halftime lead over McNeese and never looked back as it routed the Cowboys 80-56 here Wednesday night in Southland Conference men's basketball action.
 
Sha'markus Kennedy led McNeese (14-16, 9-10 SLC) with 25 points on 9 of 11 shooting, including his first career three-point goal, and pulled down a team-best nine rebounds. He was the only double-digit scorer for the Cowboys who now must win at Lamar or get some help in order to clinch a spot in next week's tournament.
 
Nicholls (21-10, 15-5 SLC) ended the regular season tied for second with Abilene Christian and now must wait to see if it earns the tiebreaker and a double-bye in the tourney.
 
Five Colonels players scored in double-digits, led by Andre Jones with 16 points.
 
Nicholls connected on 52 percent from the field and 41 percent from long range but it forced McNeese into 17 turnovers, 11 of those in the first half and six in the first 10 minutes as the Colonels built s 17-2 lead just 10 minutes into the game.
 
Meanwhile, the Cowboys had a hard time finding the bottom of the net, missing their first six shots and 13 of their first 14. By the time the shots started to fall, Nicholls had built a 27-4 lead 12 minutes into the game.
 
McNeese made just 23 percent of its shots in the first half and was 1-for-12 from three-point range, including an 0-4 line from NCAA leader Dru Kuxhausen who ended the game 0-for-6 from behind the arc and no points, the first time that's happened this season.
 
The Cowboys played Nicholls even in the second half at 41-41, but the 24-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome.
 
McNeese connected on 60 percent in the second half and finished the game 21 of 51 for 41 percent, well below its season average of nearly 51 percent shooting.
 
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Cowboys who will close out the regular season on Saturday at Lamar at 4:30.
 
WORTH NOTING:
• Kennedy's 9 rebounds on the night gives him 305 on the season, moving him to No. 10 on the school's single-season record list, passing John Rudd (301 in 1975).
• Kennedy's 9-for-11 FG shooting lifted his season percentage to .693 percent, just .03 points away from the school record of 69.6 by David Lawrence (1980) and .18 from the SLC record of 71.4 by Jethro Owens of NSU (1991).