LAKE CHARLES – Bayou Bandits are DANCING!!!!
 
What started 366 days ago when Will Wade was hired as the head coach of the McNeese Cowboys, aka The Bayou Bandits, to breathe life into a floundering program that hasn't seen a winning season in 13 years, reached its pinnacle on Wednesday when McNeese punched its ticket and slipped on its dancing shoes after it defeated Nicholls, 92-76, to capture the Southland Conference Tournament Championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Southland Conference Player of the Year Shahada Wells scored 27 points to lead the Cowboys and earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors in the process. That was coming off a 27-point performance against Lamar in Tuesday's semifinal game.
 
McNeese will be making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since the 2002 season, and at 30-3 on the year, matched the NCAA record for largest turnaround in its history by winning 19-more games than the previous season (Murray State 1979, Ohio State 1998, Texas A&M 2022).
 
Javohn Garcia added 19 points and DJ Richards Jr. scored 16 as both joined Wells on the All-Tournament team. Christian Shumate scored 11 points with six rebounds and threw down one of his signature Shu Slams off an Antavion Collum miss where he reached as far back as he could to grab the ball off the rim the slammed it down. He added two assists and four blocked shots to his stat line.
 
Well, Richards Jr. and Garcia combined to knock down 9 of 15 from three-point range as the Cowboys connected on 11 of 20 as a team, the third-most made 3s in a game this season.
 
Wells tied a school tournament record with 12 made free throws while his six assists ranked as the third-most in a tournament game for the Cowboys.
 
McNeese led 48-32 at the half and used a 13-0 run starting at the 9:07 mark and up 23-22 to pull ahead by 16 points four minutes later. Collum got things going with the first of his two 3s on the night and Mike Saunders Jr. capped it with one of his two driving layups against a tight defense. He finished with five points while CJ Felder scored six with two rebounds and a blocked shot.
 
Nicholls (20-14) was able to keep it somewhat respectable thanks in part to Diante Smith's 33 points behind 11 shots made including five three-pointers. But McNeese's offense was too strong for the Colonels, especially in the second half when the Cowboys connected on 65 percent from the floor (13-20) and 57 percent from long range (4-7).
 
For the game, McNeese made 27 of 44 shots for 61.4 percent, 11 of 20 from 3-point range for 55 percent and hit 27 of 35 free throws at 77.1 percent. Nicholls shot well in the second half, hitting 14 of 26 for 54 percent and finished with 49 percent aim for the game, making 25 of 51 from the field.
 
The Cowboys' field goal percentage shattered the school's record in the tournament which was set in last year's second round game against the Colonels while the 11 three-pointers made also broke the record of nine made 3s in a tourney game. Other school tournament game records broken were assists (17) and steals (tied with eight).
 
McNeese never trailed or was tied in the game for the second straight outing.
 
The Bayou Bandits will learn of their NCAA Tournament destination on Selection Sunday at 5 p.m.