20-Point Game from Bose Not Enough in Nicholls' Loss at New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Nicholls junior guard/forward Anatoly Bose posted his second 20-point game of the season, but it was not enough to beat New Mexico Friday night in an 83-59 loss in the Basketball Travelers World Vision Classic Friday night.
New Mexico (3-0) countered with four players reach double digits. Bose scored within three points of his career high.
The teams battled back and forth early on, as the contest saw four lead changes in the first five and a half minutes. However, the defending co-regular season Mountain West Conference champions soon put together a 12-0 run to take a 21-11 with just over 9:30 left in the first half.
Once again, Bose led the Colonels by totaling 12 of his team-leading 20 points in the first half on 3-for-7 shooting, sophomore guard Chris Iles also provided some first-half highlights by going 2-for-3 from three-point range for six points and the Colonels, as a whole, shot 30.8 percent (4-for-13) from beyond the arc.
Nicholls closed the first half strong, going on a 9-4 run over the final 2:45, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with the Lobos as New Mexico shot 46.2 percent (12-for-26) from the field in the first half to take a 37-25 lead into the locker room.
The opening part of the second period proved to be a back-and-forth affair, as the Colonels hung tough with the Lobos. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Nicholls saw six points each from Bose and junior guard Kenny Franklin Jr. (who finished with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting as the Colonels only other double-digit scorer) and five more from Phillip Ward. However, New Mexico still outscored the Colonels 29-16 over the first ten minutes of the half to expand its lead to 66-41 with ten minutes left.
From there, the Colonels continued to battle, outscoring New Mexico 18-17 the rest of the way. However, it was too little, too late to catch up to the home-standing Lobos, who shot 43.6 percent from the field on the night, giving the Colonels their best opponent shooting percentage on the young season.
The Colonels will return to action when they take on Miami (Ohio) on Saturday in their second of three games at the World Vision Classic.
The Redhawks, like the Colonels, will be looking for their first win of the season after falling to Louisiana Tech on Friday night by a score of 74-62. Miami opened the season by falling to Towson (82-71 on Nov. 13) before taking No. 5 Kentucky down to the wire for a 72-70 loss on Nov. 16.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. central time at The Pit. Nicholls will conclude its' time in Albuquerque with a 3 p.m., Central, tipoff against in-state rival Louisiana Tech on Sunday.