LAKE CHARLES – McNeese showed great energy in the first three minutes in Saturday's game against Lindenwood, building a 7-2 lead and led 16-15 following a Christian Shumate three-pointer midway through the half, but the Lions followed with 14 straight points to help them take a 35-27 lead at the break and on their way to a 78-60 win over the Cowboys on the second day of the McNeese MTE.
 
Shumate led the Cowboys (1-3) with 12 points and nine rebounds while Trae English added 12 points, but McNeese shot just 8 of 28 from three-point range and 19 of 55 overall for 35 percent while the Lions (2-3) netted 10 of 20 from long range and 29 of 57 for 51 percent from the floor.
 
LU's Chris Childs led all scorers with 21 points while Kevin Caldwell, Jr. added 18 and David Ware and Cam Burrell each scored 11.
 
"I thought we had great effort today and played much better on defense," said head coach John Aiken, "but offensively, we couldn't score the ball."
 
Lindenwood went up by double-digits early in the second half and led by as many as 16 points midway through but the Cowboys were able to cut the margin to single-digits several times.
 
However LU had an answer for every Cowboy run and was able to put things away with a 12-2 run that lifted the lead from 57-48 to 69-50 with just over five minutes to play.
 
The Cowboys' offensive efficiency was noticeable in the assists to turnovers where McNeese dished out just five assists on 19 made shots while turning the ball over 18 times where the Lions scored 25 points off the miscues.
 
McNeese will look to snap its current three-game losing streak on Sunday at 1:30 when it plays Lamar in the final game of the Multi-Team Event.
 
Lamar fell to Western Carolina 98-91 in overtime on the day's first game. WCU will play Lindenwood at 11 a.m. on Sunday to being the double-header.