HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana rode the wave of some hot first half three-point shooting then withstood a nearly improbable comeback by McNeese as the Cowboys lost for the first time since mid-November, 77-74 here on Saturday and snapping the nation's longest winning streak at 14 games.
 
The loss dropped McNeese's record to 19-3 overall and 8-1 in Southland Conference play. The Cowboys still maintain a one-game lead in the league standings as they'll return home for a Monday night contest against Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
Southeastern (9-13, 4-5) avoided a season sweep at the hands of the Cowboys while snapping a three-game losing streak in the series.
 
Trailing 75-66 with 29 seconds to play and after SLU's Roger McFarlane hit 1 of 2 free throws, a three-pointer by DJ Richards Jr. pulled the Cowboys to within 75-79 just seven seconds later. Pressure on the ensuing in-bounds play resulted in a Christian Shumate steal, layup, and 1 as the Cowboys closed to within 75-74 with 13 seconds remaining.
 
McNeese fouled when the Lions put the ball into play and SLU's Alec Woodard hit two free throws to make it a 77-74 game with 12 seconds left.
 
McNeese's Javohn Garcia had two open three-point looks in the corner to tie the game, but both fell just off the mark as the final horn sounded.
 
Four Cowboys scored in double-digits, led by CJ Felder's 16 points. Shahada Wells and Shumate each added 15 and Garcia 12. Shumate led in rebounds with eight.
 
The Cowboys shot 44% from the field but hit only 38.5% in the first half while Southeastern sank 59% in building a double-digit halftime lead, including a blistering 64% (7-11) from behind the arc. For the game, the Lions connected on 53% overall and knocked down 12 of 25 (53%) from long range.
 
McNeese was better in the second half from the field but struggled at the free throw line where it made just 9 of 17 in the final 20 minutes. The Cowboys made 15 of 23 (65%) for the game while Southeastern sank 15 of 16 (94%) of its freebies.
 
Nick Caldwell paced the SLU scorers with 16 points while Roscoe Eastmond and McFarlane added 15 each. Woodard scored 13.
 
McNeese got out to a quick 8-3 start in the first couple of minutes of the game, but the Lions scorched the court from 3-point land and put together a 12-0 run to build a 21-13 lead at the 9:44 mark.
 
SLU connected on 7 of 11 from behind the arc in the half for 64% and hit 59% (16-27) overall from the field. During a 30-9 run that started at the 17:14 mark and lasted 12 minutes, the Lions connected on 12 of 16 from the field, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
 
Felder scored the next four points for the Cowboys from the free throw line to cut the SLU lead to 24-17 with 8:20 on the clock but a 9-0 run by the Lions followed to build the lead at 33-17, then after a McFarlane jumper made it a 37-21 advantage with 3:12 remaining, Shumate started a quick 5-0 McNeese run with his second 3 of the half and cut the deficit to 37-26.
 
Down 40-26 with less than 20 seconds to play, Wells picked off a SLU pass and went in untouched for a breakaway slam to pull McNeese to within 40-28 at the half.
 
Next up, the Cowboys return home on Monday night when it hosts Texas A&M-Commerce at 7 p.m.