LAKE CHARLES — The McNeese Cowboys are headed back to the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
With Wednesday’s wire-to-wire 63-54 victory over rival Lamar inside the Legacy Center, Will Wade’s team has repeated as Southland Conference Men’s Tournament champions.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The two teams started cold from the field as the rivals combined to go 0-for-6 to start the game. The first bucket came courtesy of a floater in the lane by McNeese’s Quadir Copeland. DJ Richards stole the ball from Alex Marmolejos and then dished it to Copeland for a driving layup.
A few minutes later, Christian Schumate made his second “Schumate Slam” which extended McNeese’s lead to 12-5. The two teams traded jumpers to keep it a seven-point Cowboys advantage, but Lamar’s Terrance Dixon Jr. hit a hook shot jumper to make it a five-point game with 11:32 left in the first.
The Cardinals cut it down to two points after Marmolejos drained a three-pointer with 8:56 left. McNeese answered with a three by Richards but Lamar’s Ja’sean Jackson made a layup to make it a three-point game. McNeese responded as Copeland hit a three-pointer for the Cowboys, which was his first since making one against Lamar back on January 18.
McNeese would push its lead up to nine points late in the first half but Lamar clawed back. Andrew Holifield hit a three-pointer and then Marmolejos made a pair of free throws. With 53 seconds left, McNeese led 31-27. At the break, the Cowboys led 33-30.
Neither team could manage to score coming out of halftime.
The first basket wasn’t made until Sincere Parker made a layup with 17:33 left. Parker was fouled on the play and also made the free throw to give the Cowboys a 36-30 lead.
Lamar kept battling back and trimmed the lead down to one after Cody Pennebaker made a second-chance layup. The Cardinals star was also fouled on the play but missed the free throw to tie the game.
McNeese answered with a 7-2 run to hold a six-point lead with nine minutes left to go in the second half.
With the lead down to five points, McNeese came up with a huge play as Copeland stole the ball and threw down the court to Schumate who brought the crowd to its feet with a slam dunk. That gave the Cowboys a seven-point lead with 3:07 left on the clock.
Despite things getting chippy between the two teams, including a mild scuffle out of bounds that drew technical, McNeese maintained its lead and held on for the victory.
BIG NUMBER: 31
In a physical game led by the defense, McNeese rose to the occasion as Lamar was held to 31 percent shooting from the field (20-of-65), including 22 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: QUADIR COPELAND & CHRISTIAN SCHUMATE
Copeland led the Cowboys with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Schumate had eight points, three crowd-pleasing slam dunks, six rebounds, and three blocks in the victory.
UP NEXT: McNeese (27-6, 20-1) will now wait to see what seed they receive in the NCAA Men’s Tournament. The bracket will be unveiled on Sunday.