Diante Smith scored 18 points and Jalen White added 17, including a game-winning 3-pointer with one second remaining, and Nicholls defeated LSU 68-66 on Friday night in Baton Rouge, La.
Jamal West Jr. added 14 points and Rob Brown III scored 11 for the Colonels (1-1), who squandered a 24-point lead but bounced back to upset their in-state rival.
Jalen Reed scored 14 points and Jordan Wright had 11 to lead the Tigers (1-1).
Nicholls held a 19-point lead at halftime.
Wright scored six points and Stewart and Fountain each made a 3-pointer as LSU started the second half with a 16-3 run to pull within 47-41.
Oumar Koureissi made a jumper to stop the run, but the Tigers kept chipping away and pulled ahead at 58-57 when Reed made a free throw.
LSU led by three points three times, but Nicholls scored the final five points of the game.
Brown made two free throws to tie the score with 46 seconds left before LSU missed two shots. White then made the decisive jumper. Will Baker missed a jumper at the buzzer for the Tigers.
White sank three consecutive 3-pointers as Nicholls raced to an 11-0 lead.
Trae Hannibal’s layup produced LSU’s first points more than four minutes into the game before West’s 3-pointer gave the Colonels a 14-2 lead.
Tyrell Ward’s 3-pointer pulled the Tigers within nine before Smith scored eight points during a 12-2 run that gave Nicholls a 28-9 lead midway through the half.
Carlos Stewart made 3 of 4 free throws for LSU, but the Colonels expanded their lead to 36-14 on a 3-pointer by Michael Gray Jr.
West made two free throws to give Nicholls its biggest lead of the half at 24 points before the Tigers made five free throws to close within 44-25 entering halftime.
–Field Level Media