LAKE CHARLES – "There's no place like home," said McNeese head coach Dave Simmons following his team's 87-78 loss at Northwestern State on Saturday.
 
He couldn't have said it any better.
 
The Cowboys, who have won four straight in Burton Coliseum and are 4-1 in home Southland Conference games, will open a four-game home stand on Monday night at 8 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana.
 
The one hour later start time from the normal 7 o'clock start is due to the game being televised by American Sports Network (ASN), which can be picked up on channel 57 (CST) for Suddenlink customers in Lake Charles.
 
The loss at NSU kept the Cowboys winless away from home (0-13) for the season but Monday's game begins a home stretch that could determine McNeese's postseason fate.
 
McNeese is tied with Northwestern State for the No. 7 and 8 spots in the postseason tournament but just a half game behind UNO and SLU for fifth place. Nicholls (3-9) and Lamar (2-10) trail the Cowboys in the standings. The Cowboys will be looking to split the season series with SLU on Monday night then will host Lamar (Saturday) and Central Arkansas (next Monday) for the first matchup of the season before closing out the home stand on Feb. 27 against Nicholls.
 
"This is a very important stretch for us," said Simmons. "We have to win these games at home."
 
A four-game winning streak could go a long way when trying to pick up the team's first wins on the road when McNeese wraps up its regular season slate at Lamar (Feb. 29) and at UCA (March 5).
 
But first the Cowboys will try to avenge an 82-80 loss at SLU on Feb. 1 in a game that appeared the Cowboys had well in hand with a 12-point lead midway through the second half. The Lions then caught fire from three-point range, including five straight makes (four by JaMichael Hawkins) and the Lions mounted a rally that put them on top.
 
The Cowboys rallied back with 10 straight points to go up six point with less than three minutes to play and were up 2 with less than 20 seconds left when SLU's Joshua Filmore hit his fourth three-pointer of the game with nine seconds to play to give the Lions the win.
 
McNeese freshman Jarren Greenwood led the team with 28 points on 5 of 5 shooting from long range (9-12 overall) while James Harvey and Craig McFerrin each scored 15.
 
The Cowboys are scoring nearly 10 points more a game in their five home conference games and have a +2.0 scoring margin in those contests. In seven road league games, McNeese is getting outscored by 12 points, shooting nearly five percent worse than at home games and getting outrebounded by eight boards (+4.0 at home).