LAKE CHARLES – The first place McNeese Cowboys returns to the friendly confines of Legacy Center on Monday night when it hosts Texas A&M-Commerce and looking to bounce back from Saturday's loss at Southeastern for its first blemish in the league season.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
McNeese came withing seconds of pulling off a miraculous comeback at Southeastern. Trailing by nine points with 29 seconds to play, the Cowboys forced the Lions into three straight turnovers which in turn, turned into points for McNeese. Javohn Garcia had two three-point attempts with less than seven seconds to play to try and tie the game and send to overtime, but the ball fell slightly off the mark in both attempts.
 
The loss dropped the Cowboys to 19-3 overall and 8-1 in league play as McNeese reached the halfway point in the conference slate. The Cowboys still hold a one-game lead in the league standings, that coming over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi who will visit Lake Charles on Saturday.
 
A&M-Commerce is 7-14 overall and 1-7 in the league and dropped a 70-57 outing at Northwestern State on Saturday to suffer its fourth-straight loss.
 
McNeese rallied to defeat the Lions 73-67 in the conference opener back on January 6 at Commerce. In that game, Commerce's Jerome Brewer Jr. scored 32 points to pace the Lions in the near-upset win.
 
Brewer is second on the team in scoring with 14.1 points per game but the 6-9 sophomore forward has missed the last six games due to an injured ankle. Kalen Williams tops the team with 14.7 points. Williams netted 10 points against the Cowboys in the first matchup.
 
Shahada Wells scored 25 to guide the Cowboys in that game while Antavion Collum added 20.
 
McNeese trailed by 12 points early in the second half before posting a 15-0 run midway through the frame to take the game over.
 
Gameday Notes:
• McNeese is expected to stick with the regular starting five of Omar Cooper (4.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, 1.2 spg), Shahada Wells (18.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.6 apg, 3.0 spg), Javohn Garcia (10.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.2 spg), Christian Shumate (12.6 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.0 spg) and Antavion Collum (9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.2 apt, 1.2 spg).
• Those five have recorded a 14-1 record as starters together.
• McNeese is 11-0 in the Legacy Center this season and 4-0 in SLC home games.
• The Cowboys are ranked No. 1 in the SLC and the top 10 in the NCAA in four different defensive categories: turnover margin (6.5, 4^th NCAA) scoring defense (62.0, 6^th NCAA), steals per game (10.4, 6^th NCAA) and FG defense (38.8%, 8^th NCAA).
• On offense, McNeese is 1^st in SLC and 3^rd in NCAA in scoring margin (18.0), 1^st in SLC and 6^th in NCAA in 3FG shooting (39.6%), and 1^st in SLC and 17^th in NCAA in FG shooting (49.0%).
• Shahada Wells is 4^th in the NCAA in total steals (63) and steals per game (3.0).
• Christian Shumate is 20^th in NCAA with 3.4 offensive rebounds per game, 27^th with 9.5 total rebounds per game, and 28^th with 209 total rebounds.