BEAUMONT, Texas – Second straight game and second straight buzzer beater but on this Monday night at Lamar, Jamaya Burr's last second three-point heave

to end the first half ended up being the difference as McNeese held off the Cardinals 77-74 in Southland Conference play.
 
The win was the first for the Cowboys on the road this season as they improve to 8-19 overall and 6-11 in league play in winning their second straight game. Lamar fell to 11-18 and 3-14 and is officially eliminated from postseason play.
 
"I'll take an ugly win any day," said an elated Dave Simmons after the game where Lamar's last second three-pointer to tie the game was waved off after coming after the horn. "It wasn't pretty but we did what we had to do to win."
 
Austin Lewis, who played just seven minutes in the second half, 15 minutes total, and entered the game a 55-percent free throw shooter, hit two big-time freebies with 3.6 seconds to play to give the Cowboys the three-point lead.
 
"I think that was the biggest surprise of the night," said Simmons of Lewis coming in off the bench and hitting the two shots. "Molly (Burr) fouled out so we had to rely on our two freshmen to get the ball down the court for us."
 
One of those freshmen, Jarren Greenwood, led the team with 19 points while Burr added 13. Craig McFerrin added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds while James Harvey and Stephen Ugochukwu each scored 9.
 
McNeese connected on a season-high 51.9 percent (27 of 52) from the field but the story of the game and the reason the Cardinals were able to rally from 18 points down in the second half was just 54 percent (20 of 37) at the free throw line including going 8 for 16 in the final four minutes where Lamar turned a 12-point McNeese lead into a two possession game in a matter of three minutes.
 
"That was the story of the game," said Simmons. "Obviously if we hit our free throws then it doesn't come down like that. Fatigue may have played a factor but we did hit them when we needed it most."
 
Harvey hit two free throws with six seconds to play to give the Cowboys a 75-72 lead and after Lamar cut the margin to 1, Lewis was fouled on the inbound pass then knocked down both of his freebies to seal the win.
 
The Cowboys led 36-26 at the half marking the largest first half lead for the team this season. The lead ballooned to 18 points after a 10-2 run was capped by a McFerrin jumper to make it 49-31 with 14:04 to play.
 
Lamar then slowly chipped away at the lead by taking advantage of McNeese missed free throws and trailed 71-66 with 55 seconds to play. The Cardinals, who made just 20 of 34 from the charity stripe, made their final six free throws of the game but was unable to get the final shot off in time that would've sent the game into overtime.
 
Lamar had four players scored in double-figures led by Marcus Owens, Preston Mattingly and Booze with 14 points each.
 
McNeese scored 21 points off turnovers while Lamar netted 16 second chance points.
 
With the win McNeese now moves into sixth place in the league standings after Northwestern State and UNO, both 5-11 in league play, lost on Monday. However McNeese still needs a win at UCA on Saturday in the regular season finale or a loss by Nicholls (4-12) at UCA on Thursday to clinch a tournament spot.