LAKE CHARLES – McNeese dominated Mississippi University for Women, 92-23, on Tuesday night in the 10^th and final game of head coach Will Wade's 10-game suspension as the Cowboys improved to 8-2 on the season to continue their best start in 47 years.
 
Omar Cooper dished out a career-high 10 assists and scored six points with six rebounds while turning the ball over just once in 17 minutes of action and five other Cowboys scored in double-digits, led by DJ Richards who scored 15 points.
 
Christian Shumate added 12 points while Dionjahe Thomas and Wesley Fields came off the bench with 12 points each along with Cam Jones who scored 11.
 
McNeese led 47-9 at the half, matching the school record for the fewest points allowed in a half in school history (9 by Southern-New Orleans in November 2019).
 
The Cowboys, playing without leading scorer Shahada Wells and Javohn Garcia who were both resting some lagging but non-serious injuries, scored the first five points of the game off a Shumate basket and a Roberts Berze three-pointer.
 
After MUW (3-2) scored its first points of the game to make it 5-2, McNeese went on a 10-0 run over the next 6:24 to build a 15-2 lead following a Thomas layup.
 
The Owls scored their final points of the first half with 6:29 to play to cut the score to 30-9 when a Richards 3 was followed by a one-handed, reach-back alley-oop dunk by Shumate off a pass from Cooper that ignited a 17-0 run to end the half.
 
The run continued in the second half with the Cowboys scoring the first eight points to build a 55-9 lead with 15:51 to play making it a combined run of 25-0 over a nine-minute span.
 
Fields scored nine of his career-high point total in the second half while Nasir Mann sank seven of his nine points scored in the final 20 minutes.
 
The Cowboys connected on 55 percent (37-67) for the game and were 8 of 30 (27 percent) from three-point range. McNeese hit just 10 of 17 for 59 percent at the free throw line.
 
McNeese recorded 20 steals in the contest, two away from the single-game school record, and dished out 22 assists on 37 made shots. The Cowboys did turn the ball over a season-high 15 times however, but made up for it by forcing 29 turnovers onto the Owls and scored 31 points off those errors.
 
MUW made just 7 of 55 shots (13 percent) from the field and 2 of 25 for eight percent from three-point range. The Owls' leading scorer was Tarik Islamovic who finished with five points.
 
Acting head coaches Vernon Hamilton and Brandon Chambers combined to lead the Cowboys to an 8-2 record in Wade's absence, who, by the way, will make his McNeese debut in the Cowboys' next game on Dec. 13 when they host Southern Miss.