GAME STATS

LAKE CHARLES – Desharick Guidry extended his nation's longest double-double streak to seven consecutive games on Tuesday night as he helped his McNeese Cowboys stay unbeaten at home on the year following an 84-68 win over LSU-Alexandria.
 
Guidry poured in 15 points with 14 rebounds but was matched in the double-double department by Austin Lewis who recorded career highs with 15 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots.
 
Keelan Garrett added a career-best 24 points to lead all scorers while Jamaya Burr added 12 points and nine assists as the Cowboys improved to 5-3 on the season and 5-0 in Burton Coliseum.
 
Tuesday's game was the first of three straight for the Cowboys in their home arena. McNeese will host Toledo at 1 on Saturday followed by a Monday night game against Central Michigan.
 
"I liked what I saw tonight," said head coach Dave Simmons. "I saw us making strides but we have to get better."
 
Lewis made perhaps the biggest stride of his career with his career game. It was his second double-double of the season following a 10 point, 11 block game against Louisiana College back on November 18. He hit 5 of 8 from the field and 5 for 7 from the free throw line. Ranked No. 2 in the nation in blocked shots with a 4.2 average, he swatted away three shots while playing a season-high 27 minutes.
 
"He played hard tonight and we needed that from him," said Simmons of Lewis.
 
McNeese hit 49 percent of its shots from the field but it didn't start out strong as the Cowboys miss-fired on 11 of their first 15 shots for the game as LSUA built a seven point lead early on mostly by using an up-tempo style offense.
 
"I thought we were a little lackadaisical on defense. We started out with a 1-2-2 zone then switched to man in the second half."
 
The defense stepped it up after the Cowboys trailed 17-10 with 9:31 to play in the first half and put together an 18-3 run over the next 6:20 to go up 28-20 behind a couple of three-point goals by Garrett.
 
Burr hit two free throws with under five second to play to give the Cowboys a 31-27 lead at the break.
 
McNeese used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to go up 62-50 with 8:19 to play, then took its largest lead at 72-57 after a Garrett layup with 4:32 to play. But the Generals would claw back into the game and cut the margin to 75-68 with 2:25 to go after a couple of treys by Darryl Milburn helped spark an 11-3 run.
 
A three-point play by Lewis re-ignited the Cowboys' intensity and started a string of nine straight points to close out the game.
 
"We didn't have the killer instinct that I wanted us to have tonight," said Simmons. "I wanted to show the other teams we play that we're for real. We were just too nice tonight."
 
Milburn led the Generals with 12 points while DeAngelo Coleman added 11. LSUA hit 39 percent from the field (24 of 61) and made 14 of 23 from the free throw line for 61 percent.
 
McNeese held a 41-36 advantage on the glass and had one of its better nights from long range by hitting 6 of 16 for 38 percent.