Box Score LOS ANGELES – The McNeese Cowboys are close to breaking out.
 
That was evident on Tuesday night when the Cowboys took UCLA the distance and never allowed the Bruins to deliver that final knockout blow in a 67-53 loss, even though boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard was sitting courtside cheering on the Bruins.
 
McNeese (2-8) trailed 60-53 with 3:24 to play after Jarren Greenwood hit a three-pointer but UCLA (9-4) scored the final seven points of the game while holding McNeese to 0-for-6 from the field.
 
"We had our chances," said head coach Dave Simmons. "This is how I felt like we should've been playing all along. They're a great team but we hurt ourselves. We didn't back down and took it to them."
 
Just 19 days removed from beating No. 1 Kentucky and 10 days from winning at No. 20 Gonzaga, the Bruins relied heavily on their size advantage that led to a 54-35 margin in the rebounding department, including the corralling of 18 offensive boards that led to 12 second chance points.
 
"I thought we fought hard against a much bigger team," said Simmons.
 
UCLA had three players record 10 or more rebounds, led by Thomas Welsh with a high of 14 to go along with 16 points. Isaac Hamilton also recorded a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards while Tony Parker pulled down 11 off the glass.
 
Jamaya Burr led the Cowboys with 15 points and Greenwood added 12, all coming off of four three-point goals. Austin Lewis led McNeese with 10 rebounds.
 
McNeese trailed 30-27 at the half after outscoring the Bruins 7-2 over the final 5:54 of the frame.
 
Greenwood's third 3 of the game tied the score at 30-30 just 28 seconds into the second half and after a Craig McFerrin layup cut the margin to 33-32, UCLA scored 10 straight points, four of those off offensive boards, to build a 43-32 lead with 16:20 to play.
 
McNeese battled back and cut the lead to 46-39 after a Lewis tip-in with 13:06 to go, but back-to-back buckets off offensive rebounds by Welsh put the UCLA lead back at 11 with 12:19 to play.
 
UCLA took its largest lead at 56-44 on a Welsh jumper with 9:11 to go before the Cowboys rolled off a 9-4 run to cut the gap to seven off Greenwood's 3 with 3:24 to play.
 
From that mark until 2:12, a span of 1:12, McNeese had three separate chances to cut into that 7-point deficit but missed on a couple of layups and a three-point shot.
 
McNeese shot just 30.3 percent from the field (20-66) and 32 percent from long range (8-25) while hitting 5 of 9 at the free throw line (55.6 percent).
 
UCLA connected on 28 of 65 for the game for 43.1 percent, 2 of 9 from 3-point range for 22.2 percent, and 9 of 19 at the free throw line for 47.4 percent.
 
The Cowboys turned the ball over just nine times while forcing UCLA into 10 miscues. However, UCLA scored 15 points off of less turnovers while the Cowboys scored 11.
 
McNeese will break for a few days for the Christmas holidays before returning to action on Dec. 29 when it hosts Jarvis Christian at Burton Coliseum.