After taking down Incarnate Word and Northwestern State, the McNeese Cowboys men’s basketball team looked to close out their three-game home stretch with another victory. Monday night’s opponent was a three-win East Texas A&M team. The Cowboys found themselves down big but regrouped and dominated in the second half, beating the Lions 67-51 to improve to 19-6 and 13-1 in Southland Conference Play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The point of emphasis through the game’s first few minutes was three-point shooting. Until the 15:59 mark of the first half, the only made shots were from behind the arc. McNeese took the 6-3 lead as Javohn Garcia scored after he and Christian Shumate grabbed an offensive rebound on the opening possession. The other bucket for the Cowboys was nearly three minutes later when Shumate found DJ Richards for the open look. East Texas A&M’s lone shot to that point was courtesy of Yusef Salih.
Quadir Copeland and Bryant Selebangue got into the paint for McNeese and extended out to a 10-6 lead. The other basket for the Lions was a three from Scooter Williams Jr.
After that, the Poke’ offense went cold, not making a field goal for the next eight minutes. The points scored for Will Wade’s group were a handful of free throws by Garcia and Sincere Parker. McNeese missed their next nine shots, turned the ball over three times, and allowed East Texas A&M to secure three offensive rebounds. Those blunders combined to create an 18-3 run for the Lions.
Four A&M players knocked down a three during the run with three other players scoring in the paint with layups. With 5:57 left before halftime, the Lions were up 24-13.
McNeese started to find their rhythm again late into the half. T’Johnn Brown stole the basketball from Chris Adlam and went coast-to-coast for the layup. That transition bucket sparked a 9-0 run for McNeese to shrink the deficit. The run included a pair of layups from Shumate and Joe Charles with Garcia also knocking down his second three-pointer of the half.
There was only one made shot through the final two and a half minutes of the first as McNeese only got off two more shots in that time. Salih scored for the third time behind the arc with 40 seconds to go and the Lions went into the half with a 27-22 advantage over the Cowboys.
The second half was a much different story for McNeese.
The Pokes came out of the locker room on fire, going on a 13-2 run to begin the second half. Charles scored in the paint on the first possession, then, Richards’ corner three a couple of minutes later gave McNeese their first lead since the 10:32 mark of the first half. Copeland capped off the run with a pair from the charity stripe and a layup.
Mykol Sanchez-Vega squeezed in a three before McNeese went on another big scoring run, this time the Pokes went on a 20-6 scoring spree. Charles and Richards combined to knock down a trio of three-pointers while Shumate scored in the paint four times to add eight more paints to hit total. By the 5:46 mark of the second half, McNeese was well ahead 55-38.
East Texas A&M started to find some rhythm after it was way too late, scoring nine points in over a two-minute duration as KC Ugwuakazi contributed a layup and a dunk.
Shumate continued to take over late, scoring McNeese’s next three baskets, including a left-wing three before getting subbed out for the final time. Richards hit his fourth three with under a minute to play and Williams Jr took advantage of a silly turnover late by Brown that turned into a layup with four seconds to go.
The Pokes dribbled out the rest of the clock and came out on top, defeating the Lions of East Texas A&M 67-51 to improve to 19-6 and 13-1 in Southland play. The visiting Lions dropped to 3-22 with the loss.
BIG NUMBER: 45
The Cowboy offense received a wake-up call of some sort during halftime. In the second half, McNeese dominated and outscored East Texas A&M 45-24, scoring at all three levels and putting continuous pressure on the Lion defense. This comes after the Pokes were down 27-22 at the half.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Christian Shumate
Shumate took over in the second half of Monday night’s contest as he finished with a game-high 19 points on 9-14 shooting. The senior forward also recorded 14 rebounds (five offensive), and three assists as McNeese achieved their 19th victory of the season after taking down East Texas A&M 67-51.
UP NEXT: The McNeese men’s basketball team will travel to the Crescent City to take on the University of New Orleans. Tipoff in Lakefront Arena is set for 5:00 on Saturday, February 15th and the game can be seen on ESPN+.