HOUSTON – March Madness has finally arrived and the madness is heating up for the McNeese Cowboys with just three games remaining as they're one of seven teams still in the hunt for three Southland Conference tournament spots.
 
Another one of those teams is HBU, who the Cowboys will visit on Saturday at 7 at the Huskies' Sharp Gym.
 
McNeese, 9-19 overall, is 5-10 in league play while HBU (10-16) is just one game ahead of the Cowboys in the league standings with a 6-9 mark.
 
The Cowboys defeated the Huskies 79-73 in Lake Charles back on Jan. 26 meaning if McNeese can get the win on Saturday, it'll have the tie-breaker over the Huskies when it comes to determining seeds and qualifications.
 
McNeese is coming off an 84-75 win at Nicholls on Wednesday in a game that saw the Cowboys score 58 points in the second half and rally from a 10-point halftime deficit. That's the most points scored in a half this season for the Cowboys who improved to 6-0 on the year when scoring 80 or more points.
 
Sha'Markus Kennedy and James Harvey led the way with 27 and 22 points respectively. Harvey knocked down a career-best, six three-point goals in the process while Kennedy scored 20 or more for the third time in the last four games.
 
HBU dropped a 110-75 decision to Lamar just four days after taking conference leader Sam Houston State to overtime in a 119-113 loss.
 
The Huskies lead the conference with 80.1 points scored per game in league games only and are paced by Ian DuBose's 16.5 scoring average in SLC games.


THE RACE FOR KATY
 
For the 12^th straight year, the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas will once again host the postseason Southland Conference Tournament that will get underway on Wednesday, March 13 with first round games pitting No. 5 seed vs. No. 8 and No. 6 seed vs. No. 7.
 
Five teams have locked in their spots in the tournament – Sam Houston State, ACU, New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana and Lamar. Seven others are within two games of each other for the last three spots – Stephen F. Austin (7-8), A&M-Corpus Christi (6-9), HBU (6-9), Central Arkansas (6-9), Northwestern State (6-9), McNeese (5-10), and Nicholls (5-10).
 
McNeese still has to play Corpus Christi (next Wednesday at home) then will close out the regular season March 9 at Lamar.
 
Out of those seven, SFA still has to play Lamar, ACU and Sam Houston State; Northwestern State visits SLU, at Nicholls and hosts UCA; Corpus Christi is at UIW, at McNeese and hosts HBU; UCA hosts ACU, at Sam Houston State and at Northwestern State; HBU hosts McNeese, hosts UIW and at Corpus Christi; and Nicholls hosts UNO, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.