BEAUMONT – Dru Kuxhausen's first-ever buzzer beater couldn't have come at a better time.
 
McNeese's three-point sharp shooter sank the game-winner while being fouled with 0.5 seconds to play, then hit the follow up free throw to lift the Cowboys to a 70-66 dramatic win over Lamar and send the Cowboys to next week's Southland Conference Tournament for the first time in five years.
 
The Cowboys (15-16, 10-10 SLC) have earned the No. 7 seed and will play No. 6 Lamar (16-15, 10-10) for a third time this season at 7:30 on Wednesday night at the Merrell Center in Katy.
 
"I was sitting in the corner and was trying to get my hands ready in case it came to me," said Kuxhausen about the game-winning play. "The play didn't develop and Law got a nice pass out to me and I threw it up.
 
"I've never hit a game-winner so that was really cool. Getting to Katy was our goal. Now we have to regroup and get the next one."
 
Kuxhausen finished with a team-high 22 points and hit five threes in the contest, increasing his McNeese and Southland Conference record to 125.
 
Sha'markus Kennedy added 17 points and 19 rebounds for his 16^th double-double of the season and A.J. Lawson added 13 points.
 
The Cardinals were led by T.J. Atwood's 23 points while Davion Buster, who torched the Cowboys with 39 points on 11 threes in Lake Charles last month, was held to 10 points and just two 3-point baskets.
 
"Our scout was right on," said head coach Heath Schroyer. "We came in here to try to limit Buster as much as we could. They're a heck of a team. Well coached. We put ourselves in a situation where we go to Nicholls and get beat pretty handily. It showed a lot of guts with this group to bounce back and come in here to get a win."
 
McNeese built a 45-36 halftime lead and controlled most of the first 20 minutes with 56 percent shooting from the field. Kennedy had 14 of his 17 points and eight of his rebounds in the first half while Kuxhausen knocked down two threes in the frame but Lamar scored the final six points of the half to close the gap to nine points, ending the stanza with a buzzer three by Anderson Kopp.
 
"I don't think we managed the end of the first half very well," said Schroyer. "I think we took the shot too early and they came down and hit the three. (For the game-winning play) we wanted to wait and put Dru in the ball side corner and try to get A.J. downhill and get Dru's guy to help, which he did. A.J. put it on the rim, which I told him to do. We got the rebound and he knew where Dru was, found him and Dru made a big-time shot."
 
Lamar tied the game at 66-66 with 25.3 after Atwood hit a jump shot in the paint and McNeese called a timeout to set up the play.
 
Lawson took the inbound pass and waited until there was about 10 seconds remaining before he set the play in motion. After his miss, the ball was kicked out to Kuxhausen in the win as he nailed the 3 while getting fouled by Anderson Kopp. Kuxhausen hit the free throw to make it a four point game.
 
McNeese shot 40 percent for the game and was held to 23 percent shooting in the second half after knocking down 56 percent in the first. Lamar didn't shoot any better, hitting just 32 percent for the game and 27 percent in the second half.
 
The Cowboys led 15-14 at the 10:26 mark and went on a 19-3 run over the next three minutes to go up 33-18.
 
During the run, Kuxhausen hit both of his first half 3s, Kennedy connected on all three of his shots and Sam Baker added a three-pointer.