LAKE CHARLES – A couple unusual things happened in Saturday's Southland Conference men's basketball game against Nicholls. First, the McNeese donned the road blue uniforms instead of the white home jerseys, and second, the Cowboys found out it can win a game without its bread and butter on the floor – Desharick Guidry and Kevin Hardy.
 
For the first time this season the two would be off the hardwood at the same time when the game is on the line. Guidry, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, fouled out with 4:21 left to play in regulation, and Hardy, No. 2 in scoring and rebounds, fouled out less than a minute into the overtime period. But an unlikely hero emerged when sophomore Lance Potier (Poe-Shay) scored five of his career-tying high 12 points in the overtime period to help the Cowboys beat Nicholls 83-78 on Saturday in front of an ESPN3 broadcast audience.
 
Potier recorded his first career double-double with 11 rebounds to go along with his points. He had three of those in the extra period. Guidry led the Cowboys with 20 points to go along with five rebounds before he fouled out. Hardy added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Austin Lewis added 11 points while Jamaya Burr scored 10.
 
"We just kept telling the guys to keep playing hard and make good decisions," said Hardy when asked what he and Guidry were telling the team during the overtime timeouts. "There's always going to be times when someone needs to step up. Lance has been playing really well lately."
 
The win improved the Cowboys' overall record to 12-15 and surpassing last year's win total. The team is now 6-10 in conference play and will host Lamar at 7 p.m. in front another television audience when it will be broadcast on ROOT Sports.
 
Nicholls fell to 7-18 overall and 4-11 in the league.
 
The Cowboys controlled the first half and held a 39-29 lead at the break behind Hardy's 10 points and seven rebounds. The second half after Keelan Garrett's 3-pointer two minutes into the second half put the Cowboys up by 11 at 42-31.
 
That's when the Colonels put together a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to cut the gap to 44-43 with 15:09 to play after a Luka Kamber 3-pointer.
 
McNeese maintained a slim lead until a scoring drought of just over five minutes saw a 53-48 lead with 11:57 to play turn into a 58-51 deficit until Austin Lewis stopped the bleeding with a layup with 6:31 to go to make it 58-55.
 
Nicholls looked to put a stamp on the game when JaMarkus Horace flowed freely for a wide-open one-handed dunk. But that dunk ricocheted off the front of the rim and the Cowboys got tradition three-point play by Burr on a fast break chance on the rebound and what should've turned into a 5-point Nicholls lead instead was a tie game at 60-60 with 5:38 to play.
 
Neither team would get more than 2 points ahead the rest of regulation and with 23 seconds to play, Burr knocked down two free throws to tie it at 70-70. Potier likely saved the game with a blocked layup of Richie Lewis with 9 seconds to play, and Shaun Johnson's long three-pointer at the buzzer fell off the mark to send the game into overtime.
 
Potier took charge in the OT period and scored all five of his points with less than a minute to play to seal the win for the Cowboys.
 
Nicholls had four players score in double-figures, led by Kamber and Ja'Dante Frye's 16 points each.
 
McNeese hit 45.5 percent from the field for the game (30 of 66) while Nicholls made 41 percent (24 of 59). The Cowboys held a 43 to 41 advantage in rebounds and forced Nicholls into 16 turnovers while scored 24 points off those errors.