LAKE CHARLES – Jamaya Burr scored a career-high 16 points and Desharick Guidry recorded his 14^th double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, including hitting two key free throws with 31 seconds to play as McNeese held on to beat New Orleans 68-61 Saturday night in Southland Conference play.
 
The win snapped a two-game skid as the Cowboys improved to 8-11 overall and 2-6 in league play. UNO fell to 6-11 and 2-6 as both teams will meet up again in nine days at UNO's Lakefront Arena.
 
Burr scored 10 of his career-high in the first half to help the Cowboys build a 32-23 halftime lead.
 
Kevin Hardy added 10 points, all scored in the second half, to go along with six assists and tied a career-best with six steals. He's three swipes shy of becoming the school's all-time career leader.
 
Keelan Garrett added 13 points to round out McNeese's four double-digit scorers.
 
"It's a win and that's what we needed," said head coach Dave Simmons. "We didn't do a very good job defensively but all that matters is that we got the win."
 
UNO had four players score in double-figures as well with Christavious Gill leading the way with 16 points. Colton Weisbrod added 12, Kevin Brown 11 and Kevin Hill 10.
 
McNeese never trailed in the game and score the contest's first five points before UNO got on the board. The Cowboys led by double-digits twice late in the first half after a couple of Burr free throws and a Jordan Wells layup with 1:13 to play to give the Pokes a 32-21 lead.
 
Gill hit a free throw with 45 seconds left to close out the first half scoring.
 
McNeese came out with some high energy in the second half with Austin Lewis dunking down the back end of an ally-oop lob from Hardy, the Garrett hitting a layup just seconds later to help the Cowboys build a 36-23 lead.
 
UNO got the gap down to nine points after a mild 4-0 run but the Cowboys rolled off a 14-4 run to go up 50-31 with 12:19 to play.
 
The Privateers held strong and rallied for a 17-4 run and cut the margin to 54-48 following a Brown three-pointer with 5:01 to play.  Hardy responded with a jumper then a showtime dunk to put the lead back up to 10 at 58-48 before UNO managed to rally one last time and got the score to within three points, once at 59-56 after two Brown free throws with 1:21 to play, then again after a Brown layup with 38 seconds left to make it 61-58.
 
Guidry then hit two free throws to make it 63-58 with 31 seconds left and Hardy stole the ball on an inbounds pass on the ensuing possession and went unguarded for the dunk to make it 65-58 with 23 ticks left. Burr followed with a steal on the next inbounds pass and was fouled on a layup attempt. He hit one of two at the line and Guidry threw down a dunk with five seconds left to close out the Cowboys' scoring.
 
The Cowboys forced UNO into 17 turnovers and scored 21 points off those miscues including 14 in the second half.
 
"That's big right there," said Simmons of the points off turnovers. "But we need to do a better job of rebounding."
 
New Orleans held a 41-32 advantage on the glass and scored 12 second chance points.
 
McNeese shot 45 percent from the field (27 of 60) and was 16 of 31 for 51.6 percent in the second half. The Cowboys also had one of their better nights at the free throw line, an area where they have struggled in conference games, making 11 of 14.
 
UNO made 21 of 55 for 38.2 percent from the field and was 4 of 18 for 22.2 percent from long range.
 
McNeese will hit the road for the next three games beginning Monday night at Southeastern Louisiana.
 
WORTH NOTING: Desharick Guidry became the school's 8^th player in school history to record 800 rebounds in a career. His updated career numbers are 1,149 points (21^st all-time), 807 rebounds (8^th all-time), 113 steals and 106 assists.
Kevin Hardy is on the verge of making history as well. His updated numbers are 988 points (29^th all-time), 580 rebounds (17^th all-time), 379 assists (4^th all-time) and 204 steals (2^nd all-time).