LAKE CHARLES – McNeese’s defense came up big when needed as the Cowboys handed Stephen F. Austin its first Southland Conference loss of the season with a 66-64 win.
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McNeese improved to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play and extended its home court winning streak to 20 games. The Cowboys will next host Southeastern on Saturday at 4. SFA had its seven-game winning streak snapped as it fell to 12-3 and 5-1. The win extended the Cowboys’ home court winning streak to 20 games.
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Larry Johnson led the Cowboys with 18 points along with a career-best eight rebounds. Tyshawn Archie connected on four three-pointers and finished the game with 16 points. Lateef Patrick Jr. scored 15 to pace the Lumberjacks.
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The Cowboys entered the night ranked fourth in the NCAA with 10.8 steals per game. The 10th and biggest of the night occurred with 1:34 to play and the game tied 62-62 when Garwey Dual turned the ball over under his basket but made up for it by swiping the ball right back a couple seconds later. That led to a baby hook jumper from Jerrell Colbert to give the Cowboys only their second lead of the game with 1:15 to play.
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McNeese trailed 56-50 following a Keon Thompson bucket in the paint with 7:22 to play. Back-to-back 3s from Johnson and DJ Richards Jr. followed to tie the game at 56-56 then Johnson scored four straight points to knot the game up once again a couple minutes later at 60-60.
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After a SFA timeout with 1:02 to play, Lumberjack season leading scorer Thompson, who was held to a season-low eight points, missed on a layup attempt to tie the game and Dual pulled in the rebound with 46 seconds left. Dual came up big once again, this time with an offensive rebound on a Javohn Garcia missed, then fed DJ Richards Jr. who was fouled with six seconds to play and sending him to the line for a one-and-one, where he made both shots to make it a 66-62 game.
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SFA got a layup a couple seconds later to end the scoring.
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The Lumberjacks led 38-34 at the half, mostly in part due to knocking down eight three-pointers. SFA’s first five field goal attempts were from behind the arc and four of the makes were done in the first five minutes, three of those on second-chance opportunities.
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SFA recorded its largest lead of the game at 16-7 with 13:54 to play in the first half before McNeese went on a 15-5 run to go up 22-21 with 8:19 to play following a Johnson free throw.
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One of Archie’s three 3-pointers in the first half gave McNeese a 32-31 lead with 4:24 to play and capped a quick 6-0 run. That would be the final lead for the Cowboys until 1:15 to play in the game.
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McNeese ended hitting 39.7 percent (25-63) from the field, 27.6 percent (8-29) from three-point range, and 61.5 percent (8-13) from the free throw line. SFA connected on 43.1 percent FG (25-58), 37 percent 3FG (10-27), and 57.1 percent at the line (4-7).
The Cowboys will visit the Lumberjacks on February 2.
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Notebook:
• With the win, McNeese won for the 40th time in the last 41 games at Townsley Law Arena.
• The Cowboys are now 23-0 in regular season Southland Conference games since the start of the 2023-24 season, and 27-0 vs. SLC competition during that span (including league tournament games).
• The win was the third straight for McNeese over SFA.
• The 15 turnovers by SFA were a season-high.
• With two made 3s on the night, DJ Richards Jr. now has made 197 in his McNeese career and needs two more to move into a tie for 6th all-time in school history.
• Javohn Garcia scored eight points, giving him 978 in his McNeese career and 1,306 overall.
• Garcia pulled down a season-high seven rebounds.
• The eight 3s made in the game tied as the second-most for the Cowboys in league play this season.
• McNeese has now won five straight conference games since dropping the opener at UIW by four points.
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