LAKE CHARLES – McNeese men's basketball has suddenly gone from the coldest team in the Southland Conference to one of the hottest after it pulled out a 78-76 overtime victory over Incarnate Word on Thursday night to capture its third-consecutive win.
 
Now the Cowboys must look to put an end to another cold streak when they host conference co-leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 3:30 on ESPN+.
 
McNeese (8-19, 5-9 SLC) has not beaten the Islanders since Jan. 10, 2012, a streak of 14 straight losses. All that could come to an end on Saturday, however, if the Cowboys continue to perform at a higher level.
 
"It's trusting the process," said head coach John Aiken after Thursday's win. "We're taking it one day at a time and the players are trusting the process and executing. That's what it's all about."
 
That execution shined brightly in last Saturday's win at New Orleans where the Cowboys rallied from a 22-point second half deficit to squeak out a 1-point win.
 
"Every possession is important and we have to execute the best we can. We have to make great shots and take care of the ball. That's something we didn't do well (against UIW) and turned it over too much. But in the end, we executed when we needed to.
 
The Islanders (18-9, 11-3) won 78-74 at Nicholls on Thursday, handing the Colonels their first home loss of the season. In the 14-game winning streak over the Cowboys, five of those have come in Lake Charles with the last two in the Legacy Center.
 
Corpus and McNeese will field the top two rebounders in the conference in the Islanders' Isaac Mushila (9.8 rpg) and the Cowboys' Christian Shumate (9.3). Mushila also tops the conference with 11 double-doubles while Shumate is right behind with 10.
 
Shumate is coming off a career-high 32 points in the win over UIW. He knocked down 11 of 17 from the field and was 10 for 12 at the free throw line. AMCC's Theron Murdix scored 25 points to lead his team to the win over Nicholls.
 
Offensively the Islanders top the league in scoring with 80.2 points and are third in the league in points allowed with 72.6. McNeese is ninth in scoring (68.3) and seventh in points allowed (74.9).
 
Four games remain in the regular season and the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the postseason tournament which McNeese will host March 5-9 at the Legacy Center. The Cowboys are currently tied for sixth place with Lamar, HCU and UIW. Following Saturday's game, the Cowboys will play the next two on the road – Feb. 23 at HCU and Feb. 25 at Southeastern, before closing out the regular season at home on March 1 vs. New Orleans.
 
Tickets for the SLC Tournament are currently on sale by clicking HERE.