Colonels lose 83-62 to McNeese to drop out of second place in SLC standings

With McNeese State having lost only one Southland Conference game all year, there was no realistic chance of catching the Cowboys for the top spot in the league.

Yet the 83-62 loss Saturday afternoon in Lake Charles could prove quite costly to the Colonels.

Other results on Saturday saw Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeat Southeastern Louisiana 80-68.

The results allowed McNeese, now 15-1, to clinch the SLC regular-season title and a double bye into the postseason tournament’s semifinals.

Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went into Saturday’s action tied for second place, also with a double bye on the line. The Islanders are now a game up on Nicholls. Corpus Christ is 12-4 in the SLC and the Colonels 11-5.

The Colonels, in losing both games this season to McNeese, dropped both affairs by 20 points. The Cowboys won the opening encounter 74-47 in Thibodaux.

McNeese led by 17 points at halftime and the Colonels trailed by as many as 21 points in the game. Diante Smith kept Nicholls in the contest with a game-high 29.

With Nicholls down 70-54, Smith knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers to pull Nicholls to within 70-60 with 4:49 left in the game.

It was the third time in the second half the Colonels had pulled to within 10 points, but each time the Cowboys quickly responded.

After the last of Smith’s 3-pointers, Mike Saunders hit a baseline 3-pointer for McNeese. Shahada Wells hit a pair of free throws and a jumper, C.J. Felder two free throws, and a follow-up basket by Christian Shoemate, and McNeese was back up by 21 points with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

The only other double-figure scorer for Nicholls other than Smith was Jamal West with 10 points. Smith also had a team-high nine rebounds.

Javohn Garcia led McNeese with 17 points. Wells added 16, D.J. Richards 14, and Felder 12. Shumate had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Colonels shot 20 of 57 (35.1 percent) from the field and 9 of 30 (30 percent) from 3-point range.

McNeese was 28 of 54 shooting (51.9 percent) and 6 of 14 (42.9) from 3-point distance.

The Colonels were out-rebounded 42-30, including 26-17 on the offensive boards. Nicholls was outscored 33-10 in bench points, and 38-20 in the paint.

Nicholls never led in a first half that got off to a quick pace.

A layup by Garcia after a McNeese steal gave the Cowboys an 11-5 edge less than five minutes into the game.

After the Cowboys took their biggest lead up to that point in the game at nine points, the Colonels rallied back to within five when a 3-pointer by Brown made the score 21-16 as the pace slowed down from its early start.

A combination of tough defense by McNeese and poor shooting by Nicholls led to the Colonels not scoring for the next 6:09 of the game.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys went on a 12-0 run to build a 17-point advantage at 33-16 on a 3-pointer by Richards.

During the run by McNeese, the Cowboys took advantage of a shot-clock violation by Nicholls, a travel call, and a charge off an offensive rebound by the Colonels to add points on each of their ensuing possessions.

Michael Gray ended the scoring drought for Nicholls on a basket off and offensive rebound to make the score 33-18 with 2:30 remaining before halftime.

The biggest lead of the game for the Cowboys in the first half came at 18 points when McNeese doubled up on the Colonels 36-18 on a layup by Wells with 1:42 left before halftime.

McNeese went on to lead 39-22 at the break.