White's late 3-pointer sends Nicholls to 68-66 victory over LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. -- — Jalen White sank a 3-pointer with 0.8 second left to rally Nicholls to a 68-66 victory over LSU on Friday night after the Colonels blew a 19-point halftime lead.

Jamal West Jr. drew the attention of three defenders at the top of the key and he found a trailing White for a wide open 3-pointer with less than a second to go.

It's the first win for first-year coach and former Colonels player Tevon Saddler, who at 28 is the youngest coach in Division I.

Nicholls (1-1) led 44-25 lead at halftime behind White's 12 points and 11 from West.

LSU (1-1) stormed back in the second half and grabbed its first lead of the game at 58-57 when Jalen Reed made the second of two free throws with 5:36 left. Daimion Collins' dunk with 1:41 remaining gave the Tigers a 66-63 lead, but Robert Brown III sank two free throws with 46 seconds to go, setting the stage for White.

Diante Smith had 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for Nicholls. White made five 3-pointers and scored 17 with six boards. West pitched in with 14 points, four assists and three steals. Brown made all six of his free throws and scored 11.

White sank three 3-pointers in the first 3:43 and Brown had a layup to cap an 11-0 run by the Colonels to open the game.

Reed totaled 14 points and eight rebounds to pace LSU. Jordan Wright scored 11 but missed all six of his 3-pointers.

Nicholls was also the last Louisiana school to beat LSU, posting a 62-53 victory on Nov. 16, 2010.

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