Christian Shumate flies high for a dunk on Monday night.
Box Score LAKE CHARLES - McNeese basketball showcased what its "Mayhem" is all about in Monday night's 116-66 blowout win over Champion Christian in Burton Coliseum.
All 11 active players scored, six of those in double figures, while the Cowboys (1-2) set a school record with 22 steals to go along with creating 29 turnovers while handing head coach John Aiken his first career Division I win at the helm.
Brendan Medley-Bacon had a perfect night, scoring 20 points on 8 of 8 shooting, 4 for 4 from the free throw line, and zero turnovers. Myles Lewis added 18 points while Zach Scott scored 15, Christian Shumate 13, and Kellon Taylor and Harwin Francois netted 12 each.
"It's great to get the first win as a team and obviously, for myself as the head coach," said Aiken who was still dripping wet from the water bath celebration the team gave him in the locker room postgame. "I was so happy with the crowd, especially for a Monday night. I think they saw some glimpses of what we could be. We competed really hard and was flying around."
Flying around was point on, especially for Shumate who displayed his incredible jumping abilities with a couple of sky rebounds and a highlight reel dunk. The freshman transfer from Tulsa connected on 6 of 12 shots from the floor, grabbled six rebounds and tied for the team lead with six assists.
Lewis was equally impressive by connecting on 5 of 7 from the field and was perfect at the free throw line by hitting all eight shots. He added seven rebounds and four assists to his stat line. As for Taylor, he led the team with eight boards, tied for the team lead with six assists and reeled in three steals behind 5 of 12 shooting.
Francois and Scott had the hot hand from long range. The two combined to sink 7 of 13 three-pointers (Scott 4 for 7 and Scot 3 of 6). Scott tied with Johnathan Massie to lead the team with four steals each.
McNeese led 58-33 at the half then opened up the second half on a 17-0 run in the first 4:16 to build a 75-33 lead.
From then on, Mayhem continued to strengthen and turned into offensive points on the other end of the court.
"We had a goal to set a single-game record in either turnovers forced or steals," said Aiken. "I told the players in the final media (timeout) we were a couple away. We were able to get them in the final minutes."
Scott tied the record with a swipe with 1:28 to play then got the record-breaker with his fourth of the game with 20 seconds remaining.
Aiken was also excited to get some of his freshmen into the game, including Jonathan Lucas who Aiken decided to pull his redshirt.
"Jonathan Lucas has such a bright future and we've gone back and forth about pulling his redshirt," said Aiken. "It came down to needing him for depth. He knows all of our actions and everything Brendan and KT knows so it allows us to play the same way."
McNeese sank 43 of 77 from the field for 56 percent and was 23 of 37 for 62 percent in the second half. The Cowboys were 12 of 30 from long distance (40 percent) and 18 of 23 from the free throw line (78 percent).
McNeese held a 50-28 rebounding advantage, scored 36 points off turnovers and dominated points in the paint by a 60-24 margin
Ariyon Williams scored 23 points to lead Champion Christian while Braylon Hawkins scored 15 and Malik Laurent 14.
The Cowboys will be back in action on Thursday when they visit LSU.