Box Score LAKE CHARLES – McNeese's Kellon Taylor and Brendan Medley-Bacon each posted double-doubles but New Orleans outscored the Cowboys 14-5 over the final 3:49 to pull out an 84-78 Southland Conference win on Sunday evening.
 
McNeese (8-14, 2-3 SLC) led 73-70 after Taylor hit a layup and a free throw after being fouled with 4:11 remaining to snap a 70-70 tie. UNO's Troy Green followed with his own layup plus-1 to start an 8-0 run for the Privateers (12-8, 5-0) with all eight points coming off his hands.
 
Taylor pulled the Cowboys to withing 77-75 following an offensive rebound and putback but UNO scored easily on the other end to keep the lead at four points with 1:30 to play. The Cowboys went 1-4 at the free throw line down the stretch as the Privateers were able to fend off any rally in the final minute.
 
Medley-Bacon led the Cowboys with 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds while Zach Scott matched him with 17 points behind 5 for 10 shooting from three-point range. Taylor added 11 points with 11 boards. He also dished out a career-high eight assists, two shy of the rare triple-double.
 
Christian Shumate scored 11 points but only played 16 minutes due to being in foul trouble.
 
"It was a battle out there," said head coach John Aiken. "It was the same way when we played them in Katy (92-82 double-ot win on Jan. 6 at the SLC Tip-Off tournament). We knew it was going to be a physical game, a back-and-forth one. We didn't do what we needed to late in the game to win it."
 
UNO's Derek St. Hilaire scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half while Green added 22 and Tyson Jackson with 14. St. Hilaire and Green scored 14 of the Privateers' final 16 points.
 
McNeese led 41-38 at the half and built a 48-41 lead following a Scott three-pointer and Shumate basket three minutes into the second half. St. Hilaire scored four straight to close the gap but the Cowboys got an impressive driving dunk by Shumate then a layup from Johnathan Massie to keep the lead at seven at the 15:14 mark.
 
Myles Lewis gave McNeese a 54-47 lead following a layup with 13:53 to play when UNO eight straight to go up 55-54 after a St. Hilaire layup with 12:31 to go.
 
Trailing 57-56 with 11:48 to play, Scott started an 8-0 Cowboys' run with back-to-back 3s, then a Medley-Bacon putback layup to give the Cowboys a 64-57 lead with 9:16 remaining on the clock.
 
UNO scored the next 10 points to go up 66-64 at the 7:25 mark then McNeese's Harwin Francois gave the Cowboys the lead back at 67-66 with a three-pointer. UNO regained the lead on the following possession but Scott's fifth 3-pointer of the game gave McNeese a 70-68 lead with 5:23 to play.
 
UNO closed out the game on a 16-8 run to secure the win.
 
McNeese will continue its home stand next week when it hosts Southeastern on Thursday at 7:30 and Northwestern State at 4 on Saturday.