After getting a narrow 64-63 win over Lamar on the road on Saturday, the McNeese men’s basketball team stayed in Texas on Monday to face Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks made things tough for the Cowboys all night long and beat them 67-60. That loss dropped McNeese to 18-5 and 11-3 in Southland Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
It was a nightmare of a start for McNeese offensively. Stephen F. Austin jumped out to a 10-4 lead through the first four minutes. Tyshawn Archie assisted on Jerrell Colbert’s layup and then knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game for the Cowboys before Kam Burton scored on back-to-back corner three-pointers to jump to a six-point advantage and force McNeese coach Armstrong to burn a timeout.
A few minutes later, Peitok Machar threw down a monster dunk, and DJ Richards converted twice from the charity stripe to cut it to a two-point game. The next 10 minutes were when the Pokes struggled on offense. In that stretch, McNeese scored just four points. Two of those points were free throws by Javon Garcia, and the lone basket was a transition dunk by Garwey Dual after he stole the ball from Chrishawn Christmas at the 9:22 mark of the first half.
A big reason for the lack of points on the board was McNeese’s turnovers, giving the ball away nine times in the first half, compared to Stephen F. Austin having two turnovers. The Pokes also missed five shots during their scoring struggles.
Despite the lack of scoring by the Cowboys, the Lumberjacks couldn’t build much of a lead. Between the 13:15 and 4:53 marks of the half, Stephen F. Austin’s 15 points scored put them ahead 25-12. Narit Chotikavanic scored five straight before Burton knocked down another pair of threes, and Keon Thompson made shots from 17 feet out and in the paint.
The scoring drought for the Cowboys began to subside in the closing minutes as Archie scored twice, once from behind the arc and another inside 12 feet with 13 seconds to go before the break. That wasn’t enough to prevent McNeese from putting up its lowest first-half scoring output of the season, heading to the break down 31-19.
The first five minutes of the second half featured an 11-2 run by McNeese. Four players scored on the run, including Archie, who got things started with a left-wing three. Javohn Garcia hit a turnaround, midrange fadeaway at the end of the shot clock, and Colbert put up four points with a tip-in layup and a pair of free throws.
SFA responded with an 11-5 run to build back up to a nine-point lead. Archie was a part of both of McNeese’s buckets, finding Larry Johnson for an open three, and had a layup, but Ahamed Mohammed, Chotikavanic, and Thompson scored from downtown.
McNeese, in the final 10 minutes, continued to claw and fight back into this game as Archie either scored himself or dished the basketball to a teammate for an open shot. He and Johnson attacked SFA’s defense in multiple ways, with Johnson giving the Cowboys the lead with 5:07 to go. Johnson knocked down a three and scored in the paint to put the Pokes ahead 54-53.
DJ Richards also poured on a couple of three-pointers late in the second half to match the Lumberjack shooting and maintain a one-point advantage. In the last three minutes, it was all Stephen F. Austin. McNeese didn’t make a shot in the final stretch and watched as the Lumberjacks kept going to the free-throw line.
SFA dribbled out the clock after a Richards miss and handed McNeese its fifth loss, and its third in Southland play in a 67-60 game.
BIG NUMBER: 2
This loss put McNeese in a tough position down the final stretch of the regular season. If the Pokes had won, they’d be sitting at the top of the Southland standings after sweeping the Lumberjacks, but because they lost, McNeese now sits two games behind SFA with eight games remaining before the conference tournament in Lake Charles.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Keon Thompson
Thompson scored in bunches all night long for Stephen F. Austin, finishing the game with 21 points on 6/17 shooting. The senior guard also recorded seven rebounds and three assists as McNeese lost on Monday, 67-60.
UP NEXT: The McNeese men’s basketball team will return home on Saturday, February 7th, to face the Incarnate Word Cardinals. Tipoff from the Townsley Law Arena is set for 4:00 PM.