LAKE CHARLES – Four days after opening the season at nationally ranked LSU with an 81-70 loss, the McNeese Cowboys basketball team will tip-off its home slate on Tuesday night against Louisiana College.
 
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Burton Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on the McNeese Sports Network (1470 and 1290 AM) and also on cajunradio.com.
 
The Cowboys (0-1) had some ups and downs against LSU last Friday night, but head coach Dave Simmons was pleased with the way his team continued to compete even after falling behind by 34 points early in the second half.
 
"Obviously this wasn't the outcome we wanted, but I thought our kids fought hard," said Simmons after the game. We went down early in the second half but we didn't quit. We fought back. We outscored them 43-40 in the second half."
 
LSU used a 7-0 run to end the first half and build a 41-27 lead, the opened up the second half on a 20-0 run to go up 61-27 with 13:51 to play.
 
From that point, the Cowboys began to put things together and outscored the Tigers by a 43-20 margin the rest of the way to fall by 11.
 
"We found out a lot of things about our team," said Simmons. "Not only did we get behind against a good team, but we fought back against them. They didn't sub out their starters until about two minutes to play."
 
Junior point guard Jamaya Burr led the team with a career-high 18 points while Craig McFerrin, seeing action for the first time in 20 months due to an injury that sidelined him all last season, added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Louisiana College (0-1) is coming off a 108-68 loss at Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday.
 
In that game, junior forward Raheem Regis led the Wildcats with 22 points while preseason Division III All-American and senior guard Anthony Gaines added 12 points.
 
"I really don't know what to expect from them (LC) with it being a new coach and a new season," said Simmons. "This will be a game where we can find out more about our team. I like the young guys on this team. We have 10-11 guys that can play and make contributions."
 
McNeese played all 13 players that dressed out at LSU while eight played 10 or more minutes.
 
Following Tuesday's game, the Cowboys will travel to face 8^th-ranked Oklahoma at 7 p.m. on Friday. McNeese will return home on Wednesday, Nov. 25 to face Dillard (LA) in the second game of a double-header matinee at 2 p.m. following a Cowgirls' noon tip against Rice.