LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will close out the regular men's basketball season on Saturday when it hosts Lamar with a trip to the postseason Southland Conference Basketball Tournament on the line.
 
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at Burton Coliseum and will follow a 1 o'clock women's basketball game. Admission is free. The game will broadcast live on the McNeese Radio Network (Magic 92.1 and mymagiclc.com) and will also stream on McNeeseSports.com.
 
The situation is similar to last season when Dru Kuxhausen buried a 3-point basket plus a free throw with 0.5 seconds to play to defeat the Cardinals in Beaumont that put the Cowboys in the tournament. The difference this time, McNeese does not have to win the game to get in.
 
The Cowboys (10-12, 4-9 SLC) are currently the No. 9 seed for the 10-team tourney. A will could get them as high as No. 7, but if McNeese loses, a loss by Central Arkansas (at Northwestern State) or HBU (vs. A&M-Corpus Christi) will still clinch a spot in the postseason which now will get underway on Tuesday at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
 
Lamar (7-17, 5-10) has won three straight games, including an 88-83 double-ot win against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 27. The Cardinals currently have 15 points to place them at No. 8 in the seedings, one point more than the Cowboys.
 
The Cardinals defeated the Cowboys 64-56 back on Jan. 30 in Beaumont.
 
"Another team that's playing extremely well right now," said McNeese head coach Heath Schroyer. "They've had a week off to prepare for us."
 
Projected starting lineup for the Cowboys will be A.J. Lawson (12.0 ppg, 5.5 apg), Dru Kuxhausen (12.6 ppg, 73 made 3FG), Harwin Francois (8.0 ppg), Carlos Rosario (11.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg), and KeyShawn Feazell 13.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg).
 
Kuxhausen has made 198 three-pointers in his two-year career, two shy of becoming just the sixth player in school history to make 200.
 
Kuxhausen will be one of seven seniors honored during a pregame ceremony joining Feazell, Lawson, Jeremy Harrell, Myles Hutchinson, Ra'Shawn Langston and Chris Orlina.