CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Brandon Murray's layup with 56 seconds to play gave McNeese a 74-70 lead and after a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi free throw trimmed it to 74-71, a final attempt to tie the game with under three seconds to play fell off the mark and the Cowboys pulled out a 74-73 win over the Islanders in a battle of the top two teams in the Southland Conference and McNeese leaving with a Texas Two-Step Sweep.
 
The win was the 11^th straight for the Cowboys as they improve to 16-5 overall, but more importantly moved to 10-0 in league play while widening their lead to three games in the conference standings. It's the first 10-0 start in league play in school history.
 
AMCC fell to 14-8 overall and 7-3 in the conference while losing for just the second time at home this season.
 
Javohn Garcia led four Cowboys in double-figures with 14 points. DJ Richards Jr. and Murray each scored 11 while Sincere Parker added 10, eight of those coming in the second half.
 
McNeese shot 48.2 percent for the game (27-56) and hit 12 of 23 from three-point range for 52.2 percent. Seven of those 3s came in the first half.
 
The Islanders sank 41.7 percent (25-60) from the floor and 8 of 19 for 42.1 percent from long range. Neither team was spectacular from the free throw line, McNeese making 8 of 14 while Corpus sank 15 of 23.
 
Jordan Roberts and Garry Clark scored 22 points each to lead the Islanders while Owen Dease added 14.
 
Corpus led 37-35 at the half and went 1 of 2 at the line to start the second half to build a 38-35 lead. McNeese answered with a 10-0 run to go up 45-38 with 16:13 remaining but the Islanders wouldn't back down and regained the lead at 51-49 with 12:10 to play.
 
Parker followed with back-to-back 3s for the Cowboys to put them back on top 55-51 but Corpus answered with a 9-0 run and built a 60-55 lead with 8:52 on the clock.
 
Garcia snapped the skid by hitting two straight free throws then followed with a 10-foot jumper And-1 to tie it at 60-60 at the 6:43 mark. He added two more freebies for his seventh straight point and Richards sank a 3 to make it 65-60 and a 10-0 run at 5:16.
 
Corpus tied it again a couple of times, the last at 69-69 with 3:04 to play, but the Cowboys never surrendered the lead again to get the win.
 
McNeese trailed 37-35 at the half, the first time its trailed at the break in conference play this season.
 
The Islanders took nine more shots than the Cowboys the first 20 minutes and forced McNeese into eight turnovers in the half.
 
AMCC scored the game's first five points and led 9-5 at the 14:53 mark when McNeese scored eight straight points behind back-to-back three-pointers from Charles and Brown then a bucket from Parker to put the Cowboys up 13-9 with 12:36 on the clock.
 
Corpus followed by making eight of its next 10 shots to ignite a 20-12 run over the next 5:43 as it took a 31-27 lead.
 
McNeese got back-to-back 3s from Brown and Murray to tie the game 35-35 before Corpus got a dunk by Dease with just under a minute to play.
 
Next up, McNeese will close out its three-game road trip on Saturday when it visits Nicholls.