Box Score THIBODAUX, La. — Stefan Blaszczynski scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Monday to lead Nicholls State to its first men's basketball victory of the season, 76-63 over Xavier University of Louisiana in Stopher Gym.
Adonis Gray added 18 points and Ryan Bathie 13 points for the Colonels (1-10), who led 43-29 at halftime.
Three Xavier players had career scoring highs.
Alfred Williams scored 16 points,
Dannie Woods had 14, and
Cornelius Kennedy had 10.
Olumide Olafioye added 13 points for the Gold Rush (6-3), which has a two-game losing streak.
Williams, who missed the previous three games because of injury, also matched his career high of nine rebounds.
Mark Stewart, who entered the game with a Xavier-leading 16.1 scoring average, did not start for the first time this season and had season lows of three points and 15 minutes.
Gray's layup with 14:33 remaining gave Nicholls its biggest lead, 54-35. Xavier scored the next 14 points — nine by Williams, five by Olumide — to close the margin to 54-49 at 9:36, but the Rush got no closer. The Colonels regained their double-digit lead in less than two minutes and maintained it for the final 7:57.
Nicholls State committed 24 turnovers, six more than Xavier, but shot 54 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Rush 38-29.
The Colonels were Xavier's first NCAA Division I regular-season opponent since November 2000. Nicholls beat Xavier for the first time in four meetings.
