NATCHITOCHES – The McNeese Cowboys will be looking to start the Southland Conference season with two straight wins but it must overcome the challenge of a Northwestern State Demon squad that takes pride in defending its home court in Prather Coliseum.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday as the second part of a Southland Conference doubleheader. The Cowgirls and Lady Demons will kick off the DH at 1. It'll be broadcast live on 1470 and 1290 AM and also streamed on CajunRadio.com.
 
McNeese (5-9, 1-0 SLC) is coming off one of its better shooting nights in quite some time in an 88-77 win at UIW on Wednesday. In that game, the Cowboys knocked down nearly 67 percent of their shots and flirted with the single-game school record of 69.2 percent set in 1984.
 
Roydell Brown (23 points, 11 rebounds) and Sha'Markus Kennedy (20 points, 8 rebounds) were a dominating duo for the second straight game in leading the McNeese firepower by sinking 16 of their combined 21 shots taken.
 
Meanwhile, Trey Touchet continues to impress as for the second straight game, the graduate transfer from UTEP has played a pivotal role on the court, this time by sinking 3 of his 4 three-point shots to lead him to a career-high 13 points.
 
"The guys are continuing to get better every day," said head coach Heath Schroyer. "That was a total team win (at UIW). We had a great night of shooting the ball and defensively, made some great stops and had some key offensive rebounds when we needed them."
 
The Demons (5-9, 0-1) opened the league slate with a tough 78-72 loss at home against defending co-champion Nicholls. The loss was just the second on the season in NSU's home arena while it snapped a three-game winning streak.
 
"This is going to be a big challenge for us," said Schroyer. "They are a very well coached team and has a lot of talent who does a really good job of getting the ball off the rim and pushing it down the floor."
 
McNeese has four players averaging double-figures in scoring on the season. James Harvey leads the way with 12.6 points followed by Kennedy at 11.8, Brown 11.5, and Malik Hines at 10.7.
 
The Cowboys are hitting 48 percent of their shots from the field to rank them second in the Southland Conference and an eye-popping 68 percent in the last two games combined.
 
The Demons are led by all-conference senior Ishmael Lane who leads the team with 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds.
 
McNeese controls a slight edge in the all-time series by a 64-60 mark and has won three out of the last four matchups.