LAKE CHARLES – James Harvey made sure he didn't repeat his performance against New Orleans from the Jan. 30 loss when he went 0-for-10 from the field.
The true freshman redeemed himself here Thursday night with tying a season-high 23 points after hitting 8 of 14 from the field (5-8 from 3-point range) to help McNeese to an 87-76 win over the Privateers and snapping a three-game losing streak.
McNeese (6-15, 4-7 SLC) won for the fourth straight time at home while UNO fell to 8-14 overall and 4-7 in the league.
Harvey was one of four Cowboys to score in double-digits.
Jamaya Burr added 18 points with four assists.
Jarren Greenwood netted 13 points and
Craig McFerrin scored 11 to go along with nine rebounds.
The Cowboys had the best night shooting from the floor in conference play at 49.2 percent after hitting 30 of 61 (18 of 16 for 50 percent in the second half). And for the second time in the last three games, they sank double-figures in 3s (10 of 24).
Erik Thomas led five UNO players that scored in double-figures with 17 points. Michael Zeno added 13 while Christavious Gill, Kevin Hill and Cameron Reed each scored 10.
The Privateers led 46-43 at the half behind 53 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes. But the Cowboys turned up the defense in the second half and force UNO into 10 turnovers in the final stanza that turned into 10 McNeese points.
Trailing 48-46 with 18:18 to play in the game, Harvey put the Cowboys up for good with his fourth trey of the game to put his team up 49-48 25 seconds later. McNeese slowly opened up its lead over the next several minutes and used an 8-0 run to build a 69-57 lead after a massive
Austin Lewis dunk with 9:01 to play.
Every time UNO trimmed the lead back to single-digits, the Cowboys answered with a three, the first by Greenwood to extend the margin from eight to 11 at the 8:04 mark followed by one by Burr with 3:41 to play to put the lead back to 11 and the final by Harvey to make it a 12-point game with three minutes left.
Now the Cowboys must try to keep things going on the road where they are 0-12 on the season as they visit Northwestern State at 3 on Saturday in an ESPN3 broadcast game.
The Cowboys defeated the Demons 75-74 in Lake Charles back on Jan. 23.
