NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's Jalen West and Zeek Woodley combined to score 48 points and the Demons were able to shake a scrappy McNeese team with six minutes to play with a 15-3 run as the Demons exploded for a 93-67 win over the Cowboys on Saturday.
 
McNeese fell to 7-10 on the season and 1-5 in Southland Conference play while the Demons improved to 9-9 and 4-3. McNeese will visit Incarnate Word at 7 p.m. on Monday.
 
The Cowboys scored the game's first five points and led 7-3 after a Jamaya Burr layup. Marvin Frazier followed with a layup then West, who led NSU with 25 points, sank a layup and the first of his six three-pointers on the night to put the Demons up 10-7, a lead they would never let go.
 
Woodley, who finished with 23 points, gave the Demons their largest lead of the half after a dunk made it 31-17 with 9:32 to play.
 
The two teams followed with a barrage of three-pointers then a layup by Kevin Hardy, who led McNeese with 14 points, hit a layup to cut the margin to 42-35 with 2:50 to play. NSU then scored the next seven points, four of those by Woodley, to take a 49-35 lead into the break.
 
"They were the story of the game," said McNeese head coach Dave Simmons about West and Woodley. "They are two of the best players we have in this league. We knew coming in we were going to have to contain them."
 
The Cowboys hung around for most of the second half but never could get any close than a 10-point deficit. NSU led by 16 early in the second half but a six straight by the Cowboys cut the gap to 51-41 with 17:56 to play. NSU built its lead to 15 points but three pointers by Hardy and Lance Potier kept the Cowboys close.
 
The lead shot to 15 after a Devonte Hall layup with 8:35 to play to make it 71-56 and after a Potier layup with 6:33 to play made it 75-62, the Demons' next nine points were scored by West and Woodley.
 
"We're not geared to play at how they play and their pace," said Simmons. "The bottom line is, we needed to contain West and Woodley and didn't."
 
Burr added 11 points for the Cowboys while Garrett and Desharick Guidry scored 10 points each. Guidry also had nine rebounds and three assists. Those three assists puts him with 102 in his career as he becomes the first player in school history to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, 100 steals and 100 assists in a career.
 
The Cowboys connected on 40 percent from the field (24 of 60) and 11 of 22 from 3-point range. NSU was 37 of 65 for 56.9 percent and 10 of 23 for 43.5 percent from long range. NSU held a 37-30 advantage on the glass and held a 20-1 margin in points off turnovers.