BEAUMONT – Antavion Collum saved his only made shot of night for his last one, and the most important, when his three-pointer with 3.8 seconds remaining lifted McNeese to a 58-56 win over Lamar Monday night and clinching a share of the Southland Conference regular season championship.
 
The win also clinched a double-bye for the Cowboys in the SLC tournament. McNeese will go for the outright title on Saturday when it hosts Nicholls at 4 p.m. in the Legacy Center. It's the first championship for the Cowboys in 13 years.
 
McNeese improved to 25-3 overall and 14-1 in league play and is one of just five teams in Division I with 25 wins, joining No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Purdue, Samford and James Madison. Lamar fell to 15-13 overall and 9-6 in the conference.
 
Trailing 56-54 with 46 seconds to play after Lamar's B.B. Knight knocked down a three-pointer, Shahada Wells, who led all scorers with 23 points, made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the gap to 56-55 with 20 seconds remaining.
 
Lamar's Errol White missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 14.2 seconds left and Collum pulled in the rebound and handed off to Wells who pushed the ball down the floor, dribbled to the right wing and fed a wide open Collum at the top of the key for the game-winning basket.
 
Shahada Wells led all scorers with 23 points and added six rebounds, three steals and two assists. He scored 15 of his points in the second half and started to take control midway through the period, scoring eight straight points and rallying McNeese from a 44-39 deficit to a 47-44 lead in a two-minute span.
 
Javohn Garcia scored 13 points along with three steals and hit a crucial three-pointer that helped spur a quick 6-0 run when the Cowboys fell behind by eight points early in the second half.
 
Christian Shumate was held to four points and five rebounds after playing most of the game in foul trouble. He missed the final eight minutes in the second half after picking up his third foul, the first time this season he was whistled for three fouls in the half.
 
Adam Hamilton and Chris Pryor each scored 10 points to lead Lamar. Hamilton added 13 rebounds to record a double-double.
 
McNeese gunned out to an 8-2 lead early and led 17-6 following a CJ Felder dunk at the 11:30 mark. Lamar scored the next eight points on its way to a 19-2 run which was highlighted by a couple of Pryor threes.
 
The Cowboys trailed 31-25 at the half and finished the last 7:42 making just 1 of 8 shots. DJ Richards hit a 3 with 23 seconds to play to pull the Cowboys to within 29-25 but Ja'Sean Jackson rolled in a layup at the buzzer to end the half.
 
Neither team shot the ball well, McNeese making 36% (21-58) including 27% (6-22) from three-point range while Lamar sank just 39% (22-56) from the field and 28% (7-25) from long range.