The men’s basketball team was on the road Thursday night in Louisiana taking on Nicholls State where it fell by a close 62-59 score.

This loss dropped the men to 12th in the conference with an 8-10 overall record and a 2-5 conference record while Nicholls State moved up to 6th with the win and improved to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in conference.

“Well I can say we’ve never had a chance not to win,” sophomore center Jalone Friday said. “We’re always right behind the team or in front but we have to learn how to play the same way for 40 minutes and that’s the difference between being great and good.”

For the second game in a row, Friday led the team in points as he scored 21 making nine of his 15 shots, three of them from behind the arc.

Sophomore guard/forward Jaren Lewis grabbed the most rebounds getting a total of 12 with nine of them coming at the defensive end and three on offense. Sophomore point guard Jaylen Franklin dished out a team-high assists with five.

“It hurts when we know that we did not play up to our potential and the end result is a loss so, in regards to our next game, the fuel will come from the hunger of not wanting to underachieve and finishing anything less than first in this conference.” Junior guard Isaiah Tripp said.

For Nicholls State, senior guard Johnathan Bell led the Colonels with 20 points on the game making seven of 16 shots and one three pointer.

Senior center Liam Thomas totaled 13 rebounds as nine came defensively and four on offense. Junior guard Jahvaughn Powell had the most assists earning five.

“We need to work on our focus, energy and attention to detail for 40 minutes regarding the scouting report, game plan and the goals that we set for ourselves each game,” Tripp said.

The Wildcats will next be heading to San Antonio to play Incarnate Word next Thursday while Nicholls will play at home against Lamar and then travel to Houston Baptist.