LAKE CHARLES –
Shahada Wells scored 25 points and
Christian Shumate added 22 to lead McNeese to a 91-80 win over UT Martin on Saturday afternoon at the Legacy Center.
The win improved McNeese's record to 7-2 on the season as it captured its fourth win over a non-Southland Conference Division I opponent for the first time in 35 years. UT Martin lost for the second-straight time and fell to 5-4 on the year.
McNeese will be on the court once again on Tuesday night when it hosts Mississippi University for Women in the final game of head coach
Will Wade's 10-game suspension.
The Cowboys scored the first three points of the game off an
Antavion Collum three-pointer and led by as many as 18 points (38-20) after a rocking Shumate alley-oop dunk, the second in a one-minute span, with 4:53 to play in the half.
Shumate then hit a 3 with 30 seconds to play to put the Cowboys on top 49-32 before the Skyhawks scored the final four points of the half as McNeese led 49-36 at the break.
McNeese led 63-45 following a DJ Richards three-pointer with 13:46 to play in the second but UTM responded with an 8-0 run behind a couple of Sebastian Mendoza threes that cut the margin to 63-53 at the 12:19 mark.
From that point, Wells took over, scoring 13 of his 25 points in the final 11:05 while also dishing out a couple of assists with a block in the final minutes. For the game, Wells added six assists, eight rebounds and four steals.
Omar Cooper, making his second straight start at the point, scored 11 points with four assists while turning the ball over once. He also made all five shots at the free throw line to pace the Cowboys' squad who connected on 14 of 17 for the night from the stripe. Richards finished with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
Jacob Crews led UT Martin with 22 points while Justus Jackson added 17.
Final Team Statistics
FG Shooting: McNeese 51.5% (34-66), UTM 46.3% (31-67)
3FG Shooting: McNeese 37.5% (9-24), UTM 43.2% (16-37)
FT Shooting: McNeese 82.4% (14-17), UTM 28.6% (2-7)
Rebounds: McNeese 36, UTM 36
Assists: McNeese 16, UTM 18
Steals: McNeese 9, UTM 2
Blocks: McNeese 3, UTM 1
Turnovers: McNeese 4, UTM 11
Pts off Turnovers: McNeese 21, UTM 4
Pts in Paint: McNeese 50, UTM 26
Second Chance Pts: McNeese 10, UTM 4
Fast Break Pts: McNeese 16, UTM 2
Bench Pts: McNeese 19, UTM 31
