LAKE CHARLES – Louisiana College built a 21-point second half lead then held off a fierce McNeese rally late in the half, and for the second straight year, the Division III school stunned the Cowboys, 85-75, in Burton Coliseum on Wednesday.
 
McNeese (0-2) trailed 41-22 at the half and was down 61-40 with 9:45 to play in the second half before the Cowboys woke up and started playing the way they're designed to play.
 
"This is definitely a disappointing loss," said head coach Dave Simmons. "We didn't play well the first half at all. They (LC) came out and took it to us. They were smaller and we played big. We played small in the second half and were able to get back into it."
 
McNeese put together a 20-2 run over a four minute span in the second half behind a couple of three-pointers by Jamaya Burr, who led the Cowboys with 19 points, and three straight layups from Kalob Ledoux to pull his team to within 63-61 with 5:01 to play.
 
"We had every opportunity to get this game when we cut it down to two points," said Simmons. "But we struggled at the free throw line and in rebounds. We got out-rebounded by a smaller team tonight."
 
LC closed the game on a 7-0 run in the last 1:09 to win by its final margin.
 
Burr led five Cowboys in double-figure scoring. James Harvey added 14 points while Jarren Greenwood scored 13, Ledoux with 11 and Stephen Ugochukwu had 10 with a team-high nine rebounds.
 
LC had five players in double-figures as well, led by Steve Evans with 16 points.
 
The Cowboys hit just 5 of 20 from three-point range and were a miserable 16 of 32 at the free throw line including 11 of 20 in the second half.
 
"We cannot have that," Simmons said of the free throw shooting. "We're a good free throw shooting team."
 
The Wildcats attempted the same amount of freebies as the Cowboys but knocked in 27 of theirs.
 
McNeese will be back in action on Sunday when it hosts Southern-New Orleans at 2:30.