HAMMOND – The "Scholly Seven," in reference to just the seven scholarship players remaining on the McNeese Cowboys' basketball roster, will visit Southeastern Louisiana at 4 on Saturday in an attempt to remain in the hunt for the postseason Southland Conference Tournament.
 
The Cowboys (7-17, 3-8), playing without their top scorer and rebounder in Roydell Brown who suffered a severe ankle sprain against Northwestern State on Feb. 9, game Stephen F. Austin all it could handle this past Wednesday night while having to play two non-scholarship players for a significant amount of time.
 
McNeese led with just over seven minutes to play but the Lumberjacks were able to slip away late for the win.
 
In addition to Brown's absence, the Cowboys lost graduate center Malik Hines two weeks ago who left the team for family reasons and junior forward Richard Laku exited the squad earlier in the year. Both of those were scholarship players.
 
Now the Cowboys will visit one of the hottest teams in the league in Southeastern Louisiana (12-13, 8-4).
 
The Lions have won four straight games and eight of their last nine. And after starting the league slate at 0-3, are now tied for third in the conference standings with an 8-4 more.
 
SLU defeated McNeese 74-71 back on Jan. 19 in Lake Charles in a game where the Cowboys trailed by just 2 points with 18 seconds remaining.
 
Brown paced the Cowboys with 24 points and seven rebounds in that contest.
 
In the eight league losses for McNeese, the Cowboys were either leading or down not more than five points with five minutes to play, and three of those have come down to the final possession.
 
With Brown out, James Harvey will be the team's top scorer at 12.3 points per game heading into Saturday's contest. He'll likely be joined in the lineup by guards Kevin Hunt (8.0 ppg, 3.1 apg), Trey Touchet (5.2 ppg, 3.0 apg), and Jarren Greenwood (6.0 ppg, 2.4 apg), and forward Sha'Markus Kennedy (11.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.8 bpg).
 
Kennedy is coming off his fourth double-double of the season at SFA with 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds and has scored double figures in three consecutive games.
 
The game will follow a 2 p.m. women's game between the Cowgirls and Lions. Both games will broadcast live on the McNeese Radio Network (Cajun Radio 1290/1470 AM and online at www.CajunRadio.com).