THIBODAUX, La. — Anatoly Bose scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, including the game-winning put-back with two seconds left, to help Nicholls rally from a 13-point deficit in a 54-52 victory against UTSA on Saturday at Stopher Gym.
With the game tied at 52 after senior Devin Gibson made one of two free throws with 13 seconds left, Nicholls’ Elridge Moore missed two shots from close range before Bose grabbed the offensive rebound and used the glass for the go-ahead bucket.
UTSA’s inbound pass was knocked away by the Colonels to seal the come-from-behind win.
The Colonels improved to 12-11 overall and 6-6 in the league. The Roadrunners had won 14 of the last 15 meetings coming in but fell to 13-12 (6-6 SLC).
Gibson led the Roadrunners with 12 points and surpassed the 1,500-point mark for his career in addition to dishing out a game-high eight assists. Sophomore Melvin Johnson III added 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds, while junior Sei Paye scored eight.
Bose struggled to a 5-for-14 afternoon from the floor, but made 13-of-18 free throws — only one other Colonel attempted a freebie — and also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. He scored 14 of his team’s final 17 points in notching his 16th 20-point contest of the season. Ben Martin added nine points behind a trio of 3-pointers.
Trailing by 13 midway through the second half, the Colonels used a 16-6 run to pull to within three (46-43) with 5:23 to play.
Gibson was fouled and made two free throws and he then converted a three-point play at the 4:49 mark to give UTSA a 51-44 lead. However, the Roadrunners went cold on the offensive end from there.
Meanwhile, Bose scored Nicholls’ next five points, including a pair of free throws to make it two-point contest with 2:22 left.
Despite coming up empty on six consecutive possessions down the stretch, UTSA still held a 51-49 advantage until Kenny Franklin Jr. dropped in a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 22 seconds to play to give the Colonels a one-point edge.
Gibson was fouled while driving to the basket at the other end and made one of two at the line to knot the score at 52, which set the stage for Nicholls’ final possession.
UTSA shot 55.6 percent in the second half to overcome a tough first-half shooting performance and finished the contest at 42.9 percent, but the Birds could not overcome 18 turnovers, including a dozen in the second half.
The Colonels were equally effective from the floor after halftime, knocking down 52.4 percent to offset a 27.3-percent effort in the opening stanza.
Both teams struggled from the floor through the first 10 minutes, as UTSA made just one of its first 12 attempts. Nicholls was not much better, hitting only two of its first 12 in falling behind 6-5.
The Roadrunners made four of their next eight shots, the last a trey from the wing by freshman Jordan Sims for a 16-12 lead with 3:45 to play in the half. Gibson then found Johnson III all alone in the corner for a three and Williams on a fast-break layup on the next possession to help build a nine-point lead late in the first.
Ben Martin sank his second three of the half to pull Nicholls to within 23-17 at the break.
UTSA shot just 33.3 percent (8-of-24) in the first, but it out-rebounded the Colonels, 21-13. The 17 first-half points were a season low by an opponent.
Nicholls made three of its first four shots to start the second frame to pull to within two (25-23), but UTSA scored six unanswered points, the last two on a Gibson theft and layup at the 15:24 mark. A drive to the basket and a 3-pointer from the corner by Paye on back-to-back possessions gave the Roadrunners their largest lead, 40-27, with just over 11 minutes to play.
The Roadrunners will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8-18, 3-8 SLC) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
