LAKE CHARLES – LaBarrius Hill scored six of his 10 points in a two minute span early in the second half and Kalob Ledoux's first two of his 10 second half points midway through the half put McNeese up to stay as the Cowboys clawed their way back from an 11-point first-half deficit to down LSU-Alexandria 80-78 in Burton Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
 
McNeese (2-3) had four players finish in double-figures for the game, led by Jarren Greenwood's 19 points. Greenwood's layup plus free throw with 14:11 to play in the second half snapped a 51-51 tie to give the Cowboys their first lead since the first minutes of the game.
 
The Cowboys attacked the lane in the second half to score points in the paint and draw fouls, something that was missing in the first half. The halftime adjustment by head coach Dave Simmons and his staff worked to perfection.
 
"We showed so resiliency today," said Simmons. "We made some good plays and some big plays. LaBarrius Hill is coming along. He played well. My hat's off to Lance Potier. Here's a kid that lost his starting job early last year and this year, got injured and had some freshmen playing ahead of him. What he did today is what a leader and a teammate needs to do as a senior. He wants to win, whatever it takes to do that."
 
Potier got his first start of the season in place of injured Stephen Ugochukwu and scored 9 points with a team-high 8 rebounds in 33 minutes of playing time.
 
Potier along with AJ Brown and Hill had to fill the rebounding and inside game void that would come with the play of Ugochukwu. The trio combined to score 29 points and pull down 17 of the Cowboys' 36 rebounds.
 
Both Hill and Brown scored 10 points while Kalob Ledoux added 13 points.
 
LSU-A (6-0; Saturday's game considered an exhibition for the Generals) was led in scoring by Brandon Moss with 19 points.
 
The Generals, the No. 5-ranked team in the NAIA ranks, led by as many as 11 points with 6:34 to play in the first half and by 10 at 38-28 after a Moss dunk with 4:41 to play.
 
The Cowboys never let up. A jumper by Potier was followed by 1 of 2 free throws from Jamaya Burr to cut the deficit to 7, then trailing 42-33 with 1:12 to play, Jacob Ledoux knocked down a jumper and Howard Thomas hit a layup and free throw with 0.9 seconds to play to pull the Cowboys to within 42-38 at the break.
 
McNeese went to the lane to start the second half and tied the game on a Burr layup with 17:12 to play. Three minutes later, James Harvey hit his only three-pointer of the game to tie the score at 51-51.
 
The Cowboys built their lead to seven points at 60-53 following two Brown free throws with 11:43 to play. Those two shots came as a result of a double technical foul called against Brown and LSUA's Talbot after the two got into a brief squabble. 
 
Later, LSUA pulled back to within three points at 63-60 following a Moss layup with 8:33 to play but McNeese followed that with a 7-2 run to go up 70-62 after a Kalob Ledoux jumper with 5:16 to play.
 
With just over two minutes to play, the Generals got four straight points – two on free throws by Brian Sylvester and two more on a Moss layup – to cut the McNeese lead to 71-70. But the Cowboys, who have struggled early this season from the free throw line, sank 8 of 8 to help put the game away.
 
Moss hit a long 3 at the buzzer to cut the final margin to two points.
 
The Cowboys finished the day 23 of 29 from the line and hit 26 of 55 for 47 percent from the field. McNeese was out-rebounded by a 40-36 margin but held a 30-27 advantage on the defensive glass.
 
LSUA hit 27 of 68 from the field for 39 percent and was just 5 of 23 for 21 percent from 3-point range.
 
McNeese will next be in action on Tuesday when it visits Texas State.