LAKE CHARLES – Senior day was especially special for McNeese's three seniors – Kevin Hardy, Desharick Guidry and Keelan Garrett. Not only was the trio, all from Lake Charles, playing for the final time in front of the hometown crowd, the three also went out with a bang to help lead their team to a 70-68 comeback win over Central Arkansas on Sunday.
 
Six days ago Hardy's layup with 7.0 seconds to play lifted McNeese State to a 70-69 win over Lamar. On Sunday, Hardy was in on the game-winning play once again when his pass to Guidry led to the winning layup with 6.7 seconds to play as the Cowboys closed out regular season play on a four-game winning streak. Garrett, meanwhile, joined Hardy to lead the team in scoring with 16 points each.
 
The win propelled McNeese to 14-15 on the season and 8-10 in Southland Conference play. They'll head into this week's conference tournament as the No. 5 seed and will play 8^th-seeded Southeastern Louisiana at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
 
Hardy and Garrett were two of five Cowboy players to score in double-figures for the second straight game. Guidry recorded his 21^st double-double on the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Austin Lewis notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards to go along with three blocked shots. Jamaya Burr added 12 points and five assists.
 
After an uninspired first half that saw McNeese hit just 24 percent from the field and 17 percent from 3-point range while UCA built a 30-26 lead at the break, the Cowboys responded with one of their better halves of the season.
 
The Cowboys made 53 percent of their shots in the second frame while playing error-free ball with zero turnovers. McNeese erased a 6-point early half deficit with a 9-0 run that was sparked by a Garrett dunk-and-one and ended with a layup by Garrett to put McNeese up 37-34 with 16:44 to play.
 
UCA (2-27, 2-16) wouldn't fold and instead breathed some life behind back-to-back 3-pointers by Thatch Unruh to give the Bears the lead back less than two minutes later. UCA hit 10 of 21 from long range for the game.
 
The Bears held the advantage on the board for most of the half until a Burr driving layup put the Cowboys up 68-66 with 1:04 to play. UCA's Jake Zuilhof tied the game on a layup with 32 seconds left to set up McNeese's final score.
 
UCA had four players score in double-digits, led by freshman Jordan Howard's 15 points.
 
The Cowboys shot 39 percent for the game (27 of 69) and was 4 of 19 for 21 percent from 3-point range. Garrett had three of those four treys. McNeese also grabbed 46 rebounds with 20 of those on the offensive glass that led to 19 second chance points. The Pokes had one of their better games from the free throw line, hitting 12 of 16 for 75 percent.
 
UCA made 45 percent from the field (26 of 58) and 47 percent from 3-point range (10 of 21). The Bears finished with 32 rebounds with Zuilhof grabbing nine to lead the team.
 
McNeese's 4-game conference winning streak is the longest since winning nine straight in the 2011-12 season, the same year the 4^th-seeded Cowboys advanced to play in the conference tournament championship game.