THIBODAUX, Louisiana --- Houston Christian University closed a rugged four-game road trip with a 75-67 loss to Nicholls State University on Monday night at the David R. Stopher Gymnasium. The Huskies built a double-digit lead at the break only to see the Colonels completely turn the tables midway through the second half. The loss was the second straight for the Huskies on the back side of a tough quartet of games away from home.
 
The game started a bit slow with neither team able to convert for a couple of minutes. It was then that the Huskies made the first move as Peyton Rogers scored on a nice dish from Julian Mackey and Elijah Brooks scored on a long jumper. Those baskets sandwiched six straight points from Bryson Dawkins as HCU took a 10-4 lead before a very late first media at the 13:34 mark of the first half.
 
Dawkins would score again straight out of the television break, and Brooks followed with another bucket to give HCU its first double-digit lead at 14-4.
   
D'Aundre Samuels finished a pretty move on the break with a kiss off the glass to give HCU an 18-9 lead. The hosts then found their footing and would go on a run, outscoring the Huskies 11-2 over the next two minutes. The spurt was capped by a dunk from Jamal West Jr. and a three-pointer from Michael Gray to knot things at 20 apiece with 6:51 still to go in the first session.
 
HCU would weather the storm. Elijah Brooks would bookend consecutive three-pointers from Porter Bazil with buckets of his own, and a three-pointer in the corner from Julian Mackey pushed HCU's lead back out to nine once more, 33-24 at the 3:01 mark. A few moments later, Mackey converted on a tough teardrop in the lane reclaim the double-digit lead, and the Huskies would head to the locker room with a 38-27 advantage.
 
Nicholls came out of the break with five straight points, cutting the Huskies lead to six on a Robert Brown III three. After a slithery move to the bucket by Mason McBride and a three from Julian Mackey, Brown would score again, cutting the lead to six for a second time, 44-38. Mackey then hit a high-arching step-back three to send HCU into another late media still holding a nine-point edge.
 
HCU retook its double-digit lead, 50-40 on a Samuels three with 12:42 left. That is where Nicholls began its massive surge behind Michael Gray Jr.. A layup by Jamal West was then followed by nine straight points from Gray. He missed on a three-pointer but the ball was tapped right back to him for a second look, which he knocked down cleanly to pull the hosts to within three with with 9:13 to play. Dawkins answered back with a triple, and after layup by Ireland, Gray connected from deep again to cut the lead to 57-56 just before the media timeout.
 
Following that break, Rob Brown would nail two free throws to give the Colonels their first lead of the night, 58-57. Moments later Gray connected again from deep and West hit two more charity shots to give the Colonels their largest lead, 69-60 with 4:26 remaining. HCU would cut the lead to six on two occasions down the stretch, but it was to no avail as Nicholls completed the huge turnaround and pick up their third straight win.
 
HCU shot 49% on the evening, but were out-rebounded 37-29. The Huskies went just 6-10 from the charity stripe, while Nicholls finished 18-23 from the line, 21 of those attempts coming in the second half. The Colonels also got 31 points from their bench corp, and needed just one lead change.
 
Bryson Dawkins led the Huskies with 21 points, 13 coming in the first half, and tied with D'Aundre Samuels for the team-lead in boards with six. Julian Mackey scored 11 points, while Elijah Brooks scored all 10 of his points in the first frame. Samuels and Porter Bazil chipped in nine and eight points respectively.
 
Nicholls got 25 points off the pine from Gray, Jr. to lead all scorers. Jamal West Jr. posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 caroms, while Rob Brown III had 13 points and six rebounds for the Colonels, who move to 14-9 overall. The win also pushed Nicholls to 8-4 in the league, one game ahead of the Huskies in the only meeting during the regular season between the two schools.
 
Houston Christian University is now 10-13 on the season after dropping its second straight game. The Huskies now sit at 7-5 in the Southland, tied with Northwestern State for third behind four-team tie at second between Nicholls, A&M-Corpus Christi, Southeastern and Lamar.
 
A return to Sharp Gym is next up for the Huskies after an unforgiving stretch of the schedule for the past two weeks which took the Huskies from Louisiana to San Antonio and then back to Louisiana all in the span of 10 days. HCU hosts New Orleans as part of a doubleheader with the women on Saturday afternoon before a showdown with Southeastern Louisiana on Monday night. Both games are rematches, as the Huskies defeated UNO and SLU in the first two contests of this recent stretch away from home.
 
 
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