LAKE CHARLES – McNeese sent Lamar back across the border empty handed on Saturday afternoon as the Cowboys defeated the Cardinals, 75-64, in the annual Battle of the Boarder rivalry game in front of a near sellout crowd of 4,081 in the Legacy Center.
 
DJ Richards Jr. led the way with 19 points behind 5 of 9 shooting from three-point range. Brandon Murray returned to full-time action and came off the bench to net 14 while Quadir Copeland and Christian Shumate each scored 10.
 
The win marked the eighth-straight win for the Cowboys who improve to 13-5 overall while remaining perfect in Southland Conference play at 7-0. McNeese will host Stephen F. Austin on Monday at 3 p.m. Lamar fell to 9-9 and 4-3 and will visit Nicholls on Monday.
 
Alexis Marmolejos scored 20 to lead the Cardinals. Andrew Hollifield scored 11 and Cody Pennebaker 10 to round out Lamar's double-digit scoring.
 
McNeese led for most of the game, trailing for just over a minute early in the contest. The Cowboys led by as many as 14 points early in the second half after a 9-2 run behind three 3-pointers by Copeland, Javohn Garcia and Richards gave the Cowboys a 44-30 advantage with 16:49 to play.
 
The Cowboys maintained a double-digit lead until the 10-minute mark when Lamar cut the margin down to five points at 56-51 with 7:55 remaining.
 
Shumate, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half and with under nine minutes to play. He scored five consecutive points in a two-minute span that kept Lamar from getting closer than six points, and after his five-point spurt, McNeese led 61-51 with 5:28 to go.
 
Copeland threw down a big dunk off one of Lamar's 16 turnovers to give McNeese a 67-55 lead with 3:47 to play. Murray added a dunk two minutes later to put the icing on the game with 1:18 to go and a 73-62 lead.
 
McNeese connected on 43 percent of its shots for the game (25-58), 33 percent from 3-point range (9-27), and 57 percent at the line (16-28). Lamar hit 48 percent from the field (22-46), 37 percent from long range (7-19) and 65 percent from the free throw line (13-20).
 
The Cardinals held a 34-32 advantage on the glass but McNeese had a 13-10 win on offensive boards, scoring 17 second chance points.
 
Postgame Notebook:
• McNeese extended its winning streak to 18 games against Southland Conference opponent and continues to lead the NCAA.
• With five 3s, DJ Richards Jr. has recorded 123 in his McNeese career and has now moved into 15^th place on the school's career record list.
• Shumate's 10 points scored gives him 1,513 in his McNeese career and is now ranked 13^th all-time in school history in total points scored.
• The victory was the 14^th-straight home conference win for the Cowboys dating back to the 2022-23 season and it's the 16^th-consecutive win against Southland opponents when factoring in the two tournament wins last season.
• Head coach Will Wade won his 35^th game as McNeese's head coach and is now 35-7 overall.