SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team rode the hot hand of senior point guard Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) to a 68-61 over visiting Southland Conference rival Nicholls on Saturday at the McDermott Center.

The Cardinals (10-8, 5-2) jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead, but the Colonels (5-17, 1-7) scored 14 straight points and took a 16-9 lead after a jumper by Ja'Dante' Frye with 12:31 left in the first half.  UIW, facing first half foul trouble, got back in the game behind some timely three-point shooting.  They eventually grabbed a 28-26 lead on a three-pointer by Jontrell Walker (Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS), but Nicholls was able to regain the lead before halftime.  Neither team scored over the final 3:13 of the first half and the visitors took a 33-30 halftime lead.

The second half began with the Cardinals knocking down three-pointers on their first two possessions and they would never trail in the half.  The Colonels pulled to within a point on two occasions, but could never grab the lead.  Badillo and Sam Burmeister (San Antonio/Churchill HS) each hit a couple of important three-pointers down the stretch and the Cardinals were able to keep the visitors at bay.

The Cardinals shot their lowest percentage of the season from the floor at home connecting on just 38.9 percent of the field goal attempts.  They knocked down 11-of-26 from three-point range and were 15-of-18 at the foul line.  Badillo finished with 19 points, six assists and four rebounds without a turnover.  Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) added 12 points and six rebounds while Derail Green (Houston/Klein Forest dished out a career high seven assists.  The team had 19 assists and only committed six turnovers.

Nicholls shot 46.2 percent from the field, made 6-of-16 from three-point range and were 7-of-18 at the foul line.  Liam Thomas led the team with 17 points, nine rebounds and six blocks, but he only made 5-of-13 from the charity stripe.  T.J. Carpenter also scored 17 points and had seven rebounds and four assists.  Overall, the team had eight more rebounds than the Cardinals, but committed 13 turnovers.

The Cardinals are back in action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home.
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