THIBODAUX, La. -- Ja'Dante' Frye scored 16 points, Sam McBeath and Amin Torres each added 15 and Nicholls State held off a late Central Arkansas run to win 77-70 on Thursday night.

Nicholls (9-18, 6-11 Southland) led 40-24 at intermission after closing on a 12-2 run. Central Arkansas shot 28.6 percent from the floor in the first half compared to the Colonels' 66.7 percent.

The Bears (2-26, 2-15) trailed by double figures until Boo Milligan made a layup to make it 69-61 with 1:19 remaining. Jordan Howard hit a 3-pointer and Mike Martin converted three free throws for a two-point game, 71-69, with 33 seconds left. The Colonels then shot a perfect 6 of 6 from the line while Central Arkansas missed its next five shot attempts and split a pair of free throws for the final margin.

Mathieu Kamba scored 18 points and Howard added 16 for the Bears.