Box Score BATON ROUGE – The highly anticipated and celebrated debut of LSU freshman phenom Ben Simmons did little to phase the McNeese Cowboys here Friday night in the 2015-16 season opener as McNeese never broke even after falling behind by as many as 32 points midway through the second half and made the game interesting in the end as the Cowboys fell 81-70 against the 21^st-ranked Tigers.
 
Jamaya Burr led the Cowboys with 18 points while Craig McFerrin, in playing in his first game in 20 months, poured in 12 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
 
Simmons was everything as advertised as he recorded a double-double in his first collegiate outing with 11 points and 13 boards in 29 minutes of play. He also dished out five assists and blocked two shots. Antonio Blakeney led the Tigers with 22 points while Brandon Sampson added 18 and Tim Quarterman 11.
 
"Overall, I'm pleased with our effort," said McNeese head coach Dave Simmons. "It's obviously not the outcome we wanted but we had a lot of fight in us. This is a game we can take and build up on."
 
McNeese trailed 41-27 at the half but only after LSU scored the final seven points of the frame. The Tigers opened up the second half on a 20-0 run and 27-0 spurt overall to open up a 61-27 lead with 13:51 to play before an Austin Lewis jumper snapped an 8:51 total scoring drought.
 
From that point, McNeese played even with the Tigers, and in fact, outscored LSU 43-20 in the final 13:51 of the game.
 
"We played through some tough spots," said Simmons. "The turning point of the game was the first 10 minutes of the second half. LSU was hitting just about everything they shot. We tried zone and man on them."
 
McNeese slowly chipped away at the lead and after trailing by 32 at 70-38 with 9:52 to play, put together a 13-0 run behind three baskets by McFerrin and five points from Andrija Milovanovic to cut the lead to 70-51 with 6:31 to play.
 
LSU got it back up to 21 points at 77-56 following a couple of Blakeney free throws with 3:42 to play. A three-point play by Burr was followed by a Derrell Joubert layup to cut it to 77-61 with 2:57 to go.
 
McNeese scored the final seven points of the game to put it at its resting place.
 
The Tigers made just two field goals in the final five minutes.
 
For the game, McNeese made just 24 of 62 from the field for 38.7 percent while LSU connected on 28 of 61 for 45.9 percent, including 13 of 24 for 54.2 percent in the second half.
 
LSU made 9 of 20 from long range while the Cowboys hit just 5 of 23. The Tigers also held a 46-39 advantage in rebounds.
 
McNeese will be back in action on Tuesday when it opens its home season against Louisiana College at 7 p.m. in Burton Coliseum.