EDINBURG, Texas – The McNeese Cowboys shook the valley on Saturday and solidified its strong hold on the Southland Conference standings with a dominating performance that saw Christian Shumate record his 1,000th career rebound in a 93-63 win over UTRGV.
In addition to collecting his 1,000th rebound that came with his 10 boards on the night, he scored 12 points to record his second straight double-double, his third of the season and 37th in his career. Joe Charles added 11 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double on the year, and Quadir Copeland scored a season-high 21 points to go along with eight assists.
DJ Richards Jr., in celebrating his birthday, scored 12 points behind four three-pointers. Brandon Murray added 11 and Javohn Garcia 10 as six Cowboys scored in double-digits.
The win was 10th straight for the Cowboys as they improve to 15-5 overall while remaining perfect in league play at 9-0. UTRGV, who lost for just the second time at home this season, dropped to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the conference.
It was the 20th-consecutive win against Southland Conference opponents for the Cowboys, tied with ULL as the second-longest streak in league history. It was McNeese's fifth-straight win on the road.
Both teams started slow and UTRGV held a 9-6 lead five minutes into the game. Coming out of the first media timeout, McNeese got a 3-pointer from Charles that started a 14-0 run, one that ended with one of Richard Jr.'s 3s to give the Cowboys a 20-9 lead with 9:05 to play.
McNeese led 40-26 at the half and was up 60-47 with 12:02 remaining, the closest UTRGV would get the rest of the way as the Cowboys connected on 12 of their final 14 shots of the game, six of those from three-point range, and led by as many as 32 points with under a minute to play.
The Cowboys sank 54 percent of their shots from the field, hitting 33 of 61 and were nearly unstoppable in the second half, sinking 18 of 26 for 69 percent, including 9 of 13 from behind the arc. For the game, McNeese hit 12 of 28 from long range for 43 percent and drilled 15 of 18 at the free throw line. Copeland had most of those, hitting 11 of 11 from the line.
McNeese won on the boards by a 44-28 advantage including a 16-14 margin on the offensive glass.
UTRGV entered the game as the league leader by making 11 three-pointers per game but the Cowboys' defense didn't allow it time to get set and the result was a 7 for 33 night behind the arc for 21 percent. Total field goal shooting for the Vaqueros was 37 percent (23-62) and 10 of 14 at the free throw line.
Trey Miller led UTRGV with 19 points while DK Thorn added 14.
McNeese will travel up the road for a Monday night visit to A&M-Corpus Christi in a battle between the top two teams in the league standings.
Postgame Notebook:
• With his 10 rebounds, Christian Shumate now has 1,007 in his entire college career and 996 in his career at McNeese.
• It was Shumate's 45th career double-digit rebound game and 85th career double-digit scoring game.
• DJ Richards Jr. four 3s increased his McNeese career total to 129 and moving him past Todd Briley for 13th place in the McNeese record book.
• With 21 points, Quadir Copeland becomes the sixth Cowboy to record a 20-point game this season.
• 93 points are the most scored against a D1 opponent this season and the 3rd-most under Will Wade over the last two seasons (102 vs. UNO, 1/27/24; 105 at HCU, 2/12/25).
• The 12 three-pointer made are the second-most in a game this season (16 at Northwestern State).
• McNeese has held its last five opponents to seven made 3s or fewer per game.
• UTRGV's 37.1% FG shooting is the lowest allowed by the Cowboys' defense this season.
