Nicholls State faces East Texas A&M after Dunkley's 22-point outing

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East Texas A&M Lions (6-8, 1-3 Southland) at Nicholls State Colonels (5-8, 4-0 Southland)

Thibodaux, Louisiana; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Colonels -8.5; over/under is 145.5

BOTTOM LINE: Nicholls State hosts East Texas A&M after Jalik Dunkley scored 22 points in Nicholls State's 71-69 victory against the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros.

The Colonels are 3-0 in home games. Nicholls State has a 2-6 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Lions are 1-3 in Southland play. East Texas A&M ranks fifth in the Southland with 23.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Ronnie Harrison Jr. averaging 4.6.

Nicholls State is shooting 44.3% from the field this season, 1.4 percentage points lower than the 45.7% East Texas A&M allows to opponents. East Texas A&M's 44.0% shooting percentage from the field this season is 4.8 percentage points lower than Nicholls State has allowed to its opponents (48.8%).

The Colonels and Lions match up Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dunkley is averaging 13.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Colonels. Jaylen Searles is averaging 12.8 points over the last 10 games.

Harrison is averaging 14.5 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Lions. Damian Garcia is averaging 2.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Colonels: 5-5, averaging 80.7 points, 27.8 rebounds, 15.1 assists, 11.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.7 points per game.

Lions: 5-5, averaging 72.6 points, 31.2 rebounds, 16.8 assists, 6.9 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 42.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.