LAKE CHARLES – Roydell Brown scored 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting, but the inability to capitalize on defensive stops late in the game proved too costly in McNeese's 74-71 Southland Conference loss to Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday.
 
With the game tied 55-55 following a Jarren Greenwood layup with 7:17 to play, the Cowboys' (6-13, 2-4 SLC) held the Lions (6-12, 2-3) on four straight trips down the court. Unfortunately McNeese came up empty on five consecutive offensive possessions and was unable to take advantage of the opportunities.
 
"This was a very difficult loss," said head coach Heath Schroyer. "I give Southeastern a lot of credit. They're tough and they play physical. Their point guard (Marlain) Veal stepped up and made senior point guard plays."
 
Veal, an all-conference player, finished with 27 points including knocking down all eight of his free throws in the final minute to keep the Cowboys an arm's length away.
 
The game was tied 57-57 following a James Harvey layup with 4:13 to play but SLU scored the next seven points to take a 64-57 advantage with 1:19 remaining.
 
From that point it was a foul game as the Lions 10-for-10 from the stripe to secure the win.
 
"One thing for me that was disappointing," said Schroyer, "in our previous game against Nicholls, in our last four minutes, we really executed. Tonight, we didn't execute. We had some costly turnovers where we stepped out of bounds or couldn't get a catch and turned it over. And when you do that late in games in January and February, it's just too much to overcome."
 
McNeese out-shot SLU 51 percent to 45 percent but the Lions connected on six more three-pointers than the Cowboys.
 
"You look at the stat sheet and we shot 51 percent from the floor," said Schroyer, "but we were only 20 percent from the three. They shot 49 percent (from the floor) and 39 percent from the three and they won by three. We made three and they made nine. But we lost the glass, which was really disappointing."
 
McNeese was held to just 24 rebounds with eight of those on the offensive end while Southeastern reeled in 35 boards with 14 on the offensive glass that led to 14 second chance points.
 
Southeastern led 30-29 at the half after outscoring the Cowboys 9-3 in the final 3:43.
 
"Our guards have to be better," said Schroyer. "Our bigs have to be better at getting catches and executing the things we need to do."
 
The Cowboys got a whiff of a prayer after Harvey made good on an And-1 play with 27 seconds to play to cut the lead to 68-66 but Veal followed with two free throws while McNeese countered with quick layups, holding out hope the Lions would miss a freebie. But that never came as Veal sank his next four from the charity stripe to collect the win.
 
McNeese missed 12 layups in the game, seven of those in the second half, but outscored the Lions 48-20 in the paint.
 
Kevin Hunt added 12 points for the Cowboys while Trey Touchet led the team with five assists to go along with nine points.
 
The Cowboys will have an opened date on Wednesday and won't return to action until next Saturday when they host Houston Baptist at 3 p.m.