LAKE CHARLES – Stephen Ugochukwu scored 15 of his career-high 19 points in the second half while James Harvey netted 21 points for his second straight 20-point game to help lead McNeese to a 75-74 thrilling win over Northwestern State on Saturday following a 78-74 Cowgirls' win and capping off a Southland Conference doubleheader sweep for McNeese.
 
Ugochukwu grabbed eight rebounds, the last a defensive haul where he tight-roped the baseline to keep from falling out as time expired.
 
"He had a great second half," said McNeese coach Dave Simmons of Ugochukwu. "But this was a complete team effort. I told the guys after the game today it was Stephen and James (Harvey) but Monday it may be AJ (Brown) or Matt (Moss).
 
"The most important thing is we got the victory against a well-coached Demon team and in a game that went down to the wire."
 
Trailing 38-35 at the half, McNeese (4-12, 2-4 SLC) blew up in the second half behind 60-percent shooting (16-27) and outrebounding NSU by a 23-11 margin.
 
Midway through the half, Ugochukwu put together a stretch where he made three consecutive baskets followed by a Harvey three that tied the game at 59-59 with 8:32 to play.
 
Less than a minute later, Jamaya Burr rolled in a layup with 7:34 left to tie the game at 61-61 that started a 9-0 run that was capped by another Ugochukwu layup to give the Cowboys a 68-61 lead with 4:34 to play.
 
NSU (3-14, 0-7) battled back with a 5-0 run behind a couple of free throws and a three by Zeek Woodley who led all players with 25 points.
 
The Cowboys led by five after an Austin Lewis free throw with 52 seconds to play but Woodley came down to sink another three then hit a layup off a Ishmael Lane steal to put the Demons up 74-73 with 24 seconds to play. Ugochukwu gave McNeese the win with a tip-in with 13 seconds left.
 
NSU's Matt Killian missed a layup with five seconds to play as Ugochukwu came up with the rebound as time ran out.
 
McNeese grabbed a season-high 49 rebounds for the game, 20 more than NSU, as Craig McFerrin led the way with 13 boards to go along with seven points.
 
For the game, the Cowboys made 27 of 63 for the game (42.9 percent) and were 6 of 18 from 3-point range (33.3 percent) while NSU hit 45.3 percent (29-64) and was 8 of 17 from long range for 47 percent.
 
With his second 20-point scoring game of the season, Harvey is the first true freshman to post 20-plus point games multiple times since Tierre Brown had five in 1998.
 
McNeese will be back in action on Monday night when it hosts Incarnate Word.